At the door he turned to say, 'At nine o'clock, then ?' 'At nine o'clock,' M.de Rosny replied, holding the door open.

'You will excuse me if I do not descend, Marquis ?' 'Yes, go back, my friend,' the stranger answered.

And, lighted by Maignan, whose face on such occasions could assume the most stolid air in the world, he disappeared down the stairs, and I heard him go out.
M.de Rosny turned to me, his eyes sparkling with joy, his face and mien full of animation.

'The King of Navarre is better,' he said.

'He is said to be out of danger.