eight o'clock
After a long march , they paused at nightfall to encamp near Avignon . Tiepoletta , a prey to the most intense anxiety , had detected the interchange of divers signs that convinced her they were only waiting for her to fall asleep to steal her child from her . She watched . At eight o'clock the men had gone to stroll around the suburbs of the city ; the old women were dozing ; the young people were laughing and teasing one another , and the children were sound asleep . Tiepoletta profited by a moment when no one was observing her to steal from the camp on tip-toe . She proceeded perhaps a hundred paces in this way , then , seized with sudden fright , she began to run , holding her child pressed close to her heart ; fancying she heard her mother 's voice behind her , she rushed wildly on , never pausing until she sank exhausted on the lonely road . She had pursued her flight for more than an hour without even asking herself where she was going , and with no thought save that of escaping from her persecutors .