four o’clock
Monsieur Desmarets , the notary , went away at last . The stillness of the night , and the singular activity of the senses given by powerful emotion , enabled Clemence to distinguish the scratching of a pen and the involuntary movements of a person engaged in writing . Those who are habitually up at night , and who observe the different acoustic effects produced in absolute silence , know that a slight echo can be readily perceived in the very places where louder but more equable and continued murmurs are not distinct . At four o'clock the sound ceased . Clemence rose , anxious and trembling . Then , with bare feet and without a wrapper , forgetting her illness and her moist condition , the poor woman opened the door softly without noise and looked into the next room . She saw her husband sitting , with a pen in his hand , asleep in his arm-chair .