nine o’clock
They rejoiced in the possession of a handsome ground floor and a strip of garden ; for amusement , they watched a little squirt of water , no bigger than a cornstalk , perpetually rising and falling upon a small round freestone slab in the middle of a basin some six feet across ; they would rise early of a morning to see if the plants in the garden had grown in the night ; they had nothing to do , they were restless , they dressed for the sake of dressing , bored themselves at the theatre , and were for ever going to and fro between Paris and Luzarches , where they had a country house . I have dined there . `` Once they tried to quiz me , Blondet . I told them a long-winded story that lasted from nine o'clock till midnight , one tale inside another . I had just brought my twenty-ninth personage upon the scene -LRB- the newspapers have plagiarized with their ` continued in our next ' -RRB- , when old Matifat , who as host still held out , snored like the rest , after blinking for five minutes . Next day they all complimented me upon the ending of my tale ! `` These tradespeople 's society consisted of M. and Mme. Cochin , Mme. Desroches , and a young Popinot , still in the drug business , who used to bring them news of the Rue des Lombards .