nine o'clock
Indeed , to give some idea of the depths of doubt , despair , and incredulity in which the boy was groveling ; he who so clung to life -- the life which the angel had made so fair -- who so loved it , that he would have stooped to baseness merely to live ; he , the pleasure-loving scapegrace , the degenerate d'Esgrignon , had even taken out his pistols , had gone so far as to think of suicide . He who would never have brooked the appearance of an insult was abusing himself in language which no man is likely to hear except from himself . He left du Croisier 's letter lying open on the bed . Josephin had brought it in at nine o'clock . Victurnien 's furniture had been seized , but he slept none the less . After he came back from the Opera , he and the Duchess had gone to a voluptuous retreat , where they often spent a few hours together after the most brilliant court balls and evening parties and gaieties . Appearances were very cleverly saved .