about nine
o'clock
Rival alone replied to him . Duroy would have liked to have given a proof of presence of mind , but he was afraid of losing the thread of his ideas , of showing the troubled state of his mind , and was haunted , too , by the disturbing fear of beginning to tremble . The carriage was soon right out in the country . It was about nine o'clock . It was one of those sharp winter mornings when everything is as bright and brittle as glass . The trees , coated with hoar frost , seemed to have been sweating ice ; the earth rang under a footstep , the dry air carried the slightest sound to a distance , the blue sky seemed to shine like a mirror , and the sun , dazzling and cold itself , shed upon the frozen universe rays which did not warm anything . Rival observed to Duroy : `` I got the pistols at Gastine Renette 's .