midnight
Then the Quenus and Florent remained alone , in silence . Lisa stood nibbling a little piece of the hot pudding , keeping her pretty lips well apart all the while , for fear of burning them , and gradually the black compound vanished in her rosy mouth . `` Well , '' said she , `` La Normande was foolish in behaving so rudely ; the black-pudding 's excellent to-day . '' However , there was a knock at the passage door , and Gavard , who stayed at Monsieur Lebigre 's every evening until midnight , came in . He had called for a definite answer about the fish inspectorship . `` You must understand , '' he said , `` that Monsieur Verlaque can not wait any longer ; he is too ill . So Florent must make up his mind .