seven in the evening
and Diane de Poitiers had caused the torture of the `` question '' to be applied in their very presence . Paris was so closely watched that the archers compelled all passers along the street to pray before the shrines of the Madonna so as to discover heretics by their unwillingness or even refusal to do an act contrary to their beliefs . The two archers who were stationed at the corner of the Lecamus house had departed , and Cristophe , son of the furrier , vehemently suspected of deserting Catholicism , was able to leave the shop without fear of being made to adore the Virgin . By seven in the evening , in April , 1560 , darkness was already falling , and the apprentices , seeing no signs of customers on either side of the arcade , were beginning to take in the merchandise exposed as samples beneath the pillars , in order to close the shop . Christophe Lecamus , an ardent young man about twenty-two years old , was standing on the sill of the shop-door , apparently watching the apprentices . `` Monsieur , '' said one of them , addressing Christophe and pointing to a man who was walking to and fro under the gallery with an air of indecision , `` perhaps that 's a thief or a spy ; anyhow , the shabby wretch ca n't be an honest man ; if he wanted to speak to us he would come over frankly , instead of sidling along as he does -- and what a face ! '' continued the apprentice , mimicking the man , `` with his nose in his cloak , his yellow eyes , and that famished look ! ''