midnight
His dog is now roasted . Let 's eat ! '' `` Let 's eat ! '' Too old a man to think of contesting the spoils for which he had returned to Gregory 's tavern , Yvon hurried back home and reached his hut towards midnight . On entering , a torch of resinous wood , fastened near the wall by an iron ring , lighted a heart-rending spectacle . Stretched out near the hearth lay Den-Brao , his face covered by his mason 's jacket ; himself expiring of inanition , he wished to escape the sight of the agony of his family . His wife , Gervaise , so thin that the bones of her face could be counted , was on her knees near a straw pallet where Julyan lay in convulsions .