Maximilian returned home and waited all evening and all the next day. No message came.
It wasn't until the following morning around ten o'clock, just as he was about to head to the notary's office, that he received a small letter from the postman. He recognized Valentine's handwriting immediately, though he'd never seen it before.
The letter read:
"Tears, begging, prayers, none of it worked. Yesterday I spent two hours at Saint-Phillippe du Roule church, praying with everything I had. Heaven is as inflexible as my father. The contract signing is scheduled for tonight at nine o'clock. I have only one promise to give, only one heart. That promise belongs to you. That heart is yours. Tonight at 8:45, meet me at the gate.
Your fiancée,
Valentine de Villefort
