three
o'clock in the morning
Even beyond the houses in the Rue de Lille and the Rue du Bac there must have been other structures burning , for clouds of smoke were visible rising from the carrefour of la Croix-Rouge , and , more distant still , from the Rue Vavin and the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs . Nearer at hand and to their right the fires in the Rue Saint-Honore were dying out , while to the left , at the Palais-Royal and the new Louvre , to which the torch had not been applied until near morning , the work of the incendiaries was apparently a failure . But what they were unable to account for at first was the dense volume of black smoke which , impelled by the west wind , came driving past their window . Fire had been set to the Ministry of Finance at three o'clock in the morning and ever since that time it had been smoldering , emitting no blaze , among the stacks and piles of documents that were contained in the low-ceiled , fire-proof vaults and chambers . And if the terrific impressions of the night were not there to preside at the awakening of the great city -- the fear of total destruction , the Seine pouring its fiery waves past their doors , Paris kindling into flame from end to end -- a feeling of gloom and despair , hung heavy over the quartiers that had been spared , with that dense , on-pouring smoke , whose dusky cloud was ever spreading . Presently the sun , which had risen bright and clear , was hid by it , and the golden sky was filled with the great funeral pall . Maurice , who appeared to be delirious again , made a slow , sweeping gesture that embraced the entire horizon , murmuring : `` Is it all burning ?