One o’clock
Reporters also appeared ; and they could be seen darting one by one out of the room as soon as a partial result was communicated to them . Claude , hoarse by now , still went on calling names . The smoke and the heat became intolerable , a smell like that of a cow-house rose from the muddy litter on the floor . One o'clock , two o'clock in the morning struck , and he was still unfolding voting-papers , the conscientiousness which he displayed delaying him to such a point that the other parties had long since finished their work , while his was still a maze of figures . At last all the additions were centralised and the definite result proclaimed . Fagerolles was elected , coming fifteenth among forty , or five places ahead of Bongrand , who had been a candidate on the same list , but whose name must have been frequently struck out . And daylight was breaking when Claude reached home in the Rue Tourlaque , feeling both worn out and delighted .