For a long while she remained sitting on the edge of the bed, listening and listening.

Toward morning, however, she went to sleep again, and at eight o'clock, when she woke up, she escaped from the hotel and ran to her aunt's.

When Mme Lerat, who happened just then to be drinking her morning coffee with Zoe, beheld her bedraggled plight and haggard face, she took note of the hour and at once understood the state of the case.
"It's come to it, eh ?" she cried.

"I certainly told you that he would take the skin off your back one of these days.

Well, well, come in; you'll always find a kind welcome here." Zoe had risen from her chair and was muttering with respectful familiarity: "Madame is restored to us at last.