nearly midnight
Oh , come in ! I have the French papers ; for three hours I have been reading them alone . Come in or I shall go mad ! ' And they discussed the war , the political prospect , and Barbier 's French letters till nearly midnight . All the exile 's nationality had revived , and so lost was he in weeping over France he had scarcely breath left wherewith to curse the Empire . In the presence of a grief so true , so poignant , wherein all the man 's little tricks and absurdities had for the moment melted out of sight , David 's own seared and bitter feeling could find no voice . He said not a word that could jar on his old friend .