midnight
Silvere murmured . Thereupon uncle and nephew launched out into high politics . Fine and Gervaise , on finding them hotly debating things , quietly went to bed without attracting their attention . Then the two men remained together till midnight , commenting on the news from Paris and discussing the approaching and inevitable struggle . Macquart bitterly denounced the men of his own party , Silvere dreamed his dream of ideal liberty aloud , and for himself only . Strange conversations these were , during which the uncle poured out many a little nip for himself , and from which the nephew emerged quite intoxicated with enthusiasm . Antoine , however , never succeeded in obtaining from the young Republican any perfidious suggestion or play of warfare against the Rougons .