midnight
With four pools at fifty francs each , I could win two hundred thousand francs , and that 's much surer than the turning up of a trey . '' He tried to think where the old woman was likely to have hid the money . On the days preceding festivals , Agathe went to church and stayed there a long time ; no doubt she confessed and prepared for the communion . It was now the day before Christmas ; Madame Descoings would certainly go out to buy some dainties for the `` reveillon , '' the midnight meal ; and she might also take occasion to pay up her stake . The lottery was drawn every five days in different localities , at Bordeaux , Lyons , Lille , Strasburg , and Paris . The Paris lottery was drawn on the twenty-fifth of each month , and the lists closed on the twenty-fourth , at midnight . Philippe studied all these points and set himself to watch .