eight o'clock in the evening
On the 22nd of January , 1793 , towards eight o'clock in the evening , an old lady came down the steep street that comes to an end opposite the Church of Saint Laurent in the Faubourg Saint Martin . It had snowed so heavily all day long that the lady 's footsteps were scarcely audible ; the streets were deserted , and a feeling of dread , not unnatural amid the silence , was further increased by the whole extent of the Terror beneath which France was groaning in those days ; what was more , the old lady so far had met no one by the way . Her sight had long been failing , so that the few foot passengers dispersed like shadows in the distance over the wide thoroughfare through the faubourg , were quite invisible to her by the light of the lanterns . She had passed the end of the Rue des Morts , when she fancied that she could hear the firm , heavy tread of a man walking behind her .