two in the morning
Its success was extraordinary , and its author found himself the most widely-read writer in France . The story belongs to the `` realistic '' school , and , although objections may be raised against its nauseating details , there is no mistaking its graphic power and truth to a certain phase of life . Zola was accidentally suffocated by charcoal fumes on September 29 , 1902 . _ I. -- The Lodgers of the Hôtel Boncoeur _ Gervaise had waited up for Lantier until two in the morning , exposed in a thin loose jacket to the night air at the window . Then , chilled and drowsy , she had thrown herself across the bed , bathed in tears . For a week he had not appeared till late , alleging that he had been in search of work . This evening she thought she had seen him enter a dancing-hall opposite , and , five or six paces behind , little Adèle , a burnisher .