five o'clock in the morning
And when at last the coffee had all been drunk they still lingered on in the peaceful quiet of the great cool dining room . And at that same hour Napoleon III . was in the weaver 's lowly cottage on the Donchery road . As early as five o'clock in the morning he had insisted on leaving the Sous-Prefecture ; he felt ill at ease in Sedan , which was at once a menace and a reproach to him , and moreover he thought he might , in some measure , alleviate the sufferings of his tender heart by obtaining more favorable terms for his unfortunate army . His object was to have a personal interview with the King of Prussia . He had taken his place in a hired caleche and been driven along the broad highway , with its row of lofty poplars on either side , and this first stage of his journey into exile , accomplished in the chill air of early dawn , must have reminded him forcibly of the grandeur that had been his and that he was putting behind him forever . It was on this road that he had his encounter with Bismarck , who came hurrying to meet him in an old cap and coarse , greased boots , with the sole object of keeping him occupied and preventing him from seeing the King until the capitulation should have been signed .