midnight
`` Ventre de biche ! '' exclaimed Chicot , `` I return to my original idea , -- it is not a love affair , but a conspiracy . `` Madame la Duchesse de Montpensier is in love with Monsieur Ernanton de Carmainges ; let us watch over this love affair of Madame la Duchesse . '' And Chicot watched until midnight had long passed , when Ernanton hastened away , his cloak concealing his face , while Madame la Duchesse de Montpensier returned to her litter . `` Now , '' murmured Chicot , as he descended his own staircase , `` what is that chance of death which is to deliver the Duc de Guise from the presumptive heir of the crown ? who are those defunct persons who were thought to be dead , but are still living ? `` Mordioux !