one o'clock
The seven military judges of the Council of War advanced solemnly , in single file . They were in full dress uniform -- sabres , epaulettes , regulation plumes on helmets and caps . With all due ceremony they took their respective places at a long green-covered table . This opened at one o'clock , on the afternoon of the twenty-eighth of December . The president was a colonel of dragoons , a smart , distinguished-looking man , whose fair hair was slightly tinged with grey at the temples . On the right of the tribunal , before a bureau piled with voluminous case papers , was seated Commandant Dumoulin , redder in the face than ever . The place next him was filled by Lieutenant Servin , who showed himself the very pink of correctness and meticulous elegance .