And just as, summoning my courage, I was preparing to go down and do what, after all, I most wished to do in the world⁠— viz. , meet him⁠—the wiry voice of St. Pierre replied glibly and falsely, “ Elle est au lit. ” 208 And he passed, with the stamp of vexation, into the corridor. There Madame Beck met, captured, chid, convoyed to the street-door, and finally dismissed him.