four o'clock in the morning
It was a dark night ; Madame Bovary junior was afraid of accidents for her husband . So it was decided the stable-boy should go on first ; Charles would start three hours later when the moon rose . A boy was to be sent to meet him , and show him the way to the farm , and open the gates for him . Towards four o'clock in the morning , Charles , well wrapped up in his cloak , set out for the Bertaux . Still sleepy from the warmth of his bed , he let himself be lulled by the quiet trot of his horse . When it stopped of its own accord in front of those holes surrounded with thorns that are dug on the margin of furrows , Charles awoke with a start , suddenly remembered the broken leg , and tried to call to mind all the fractures he knew . The rain had stopped , day was breaking , and on the branches of the leafless trees birds roosted motionless , their little feathers bristling in the cold morning wind .