nine o'clock
`` The watch are coming , '' he said roughly . `` You are right , '' his companion assented , `` and the sooner we are within doors the better . '' It was noticeable that throughout their talk which had lasted some minutes no sign of life had appeared in any of the neighbouring houses . Scarce a light shone from doorway or window though it was as yet but nine o'clock . In truth fear of the Sixteen and of the mob whom they guided was overpowering Paris -- was a terror crushing out men 's lives . While the provinces of France were divided between two opinions , and half of them owned the Huguenot Henry the Fourth -- now for two years the rightful sovereign -- Paris would have none of him . The fierce bigotry of the lower classes , the presence of some thousands of Spanish soldiers , and the ambition and talents of the Guise family combined at once to keep the gates of Paris closed to him , and to overawe such of the respectable citizens as from religious sympathy in rare cases , more often out of a desire to see the re-establishment of law and order , would have adopted his cause .