three o’clock
It 's stupid to torture one 's heart like this ! ' When they were on the new bridge , Sandoz tried to calm him by showing him the view which had not formerly existed , the widened bed of the Seine , full to the brim , as it were , and the water flowing onward , proudly and slowly . But this water failed to interest Claude , until he reflected that it was the same water which , as it passed through Paris , had bathed the old quay walls of the Cite ; and then he felt touched , he leant over the parapet of the bridge for a moment , and thought that he could distinguish glorious reflections in it -- the towers of Notre-Dame , and the needle-like spire of the Sainte-Chapelle , carried along by the current towards the sea . The two friends missed the three o'clock train , and it was real torture to have to spend two long hours more in that region , where everything weighed so heavily on their shoulders . Fortunately , they had forewarned Christine and Madame Sandoz that they might return by a night train if they were detained . So they resolved upon a bachelor dinner at a restaurant on the Place du Havre , hoping to set themselves all right again by a good chat at dessert as in former times . Eight o'clock was about to strike when they sat down to table .