about three in the morning
A French gentleman , Monsieur de St. Victor , was understood to have undertaken to bring him to London -- understood -- for everything was whispered rather than told among the panic-stricken women . No one who knew the expectation could go to bed that night except that the King and Queen had -- in order to disarm suspicion -- to go through the accustomed ceremonies of the coucher . The ladies sat or lay on their beds intently listening , as hour after hour chimed from the clocks . At last , at about three in the morning , the challenge of the sentinels was heard from point to point . Every one started up , and hurried almost pell-mell towards the postern door . The King and Queen were both descending a stair leading from the King 's dressing - room , and as the door was cautiously opened , it admitted a figure in a fur cloak , which he unfolded , and displayed the sleeping face of the infant well wrapped from the December cold . With rapture the Queen gathered him into her arms , and the father kissed him with a vehemence that made him awake and cry .