midnight
Certain , through a long lease , of ending his days there , he lived rather plainly , served by an old cook and the former maid of the late Madame Cardot , -- both of whom expected to reap an annuity of some six hundred francs apiece on the old man 's death . These two women took the utmost care of him , and were all the more interested in doing so because no one was ever less fussy or less fault-finding than he . The apartment , furnished by the late Madame Cardot , had remained in the same condition for the last six years , -- the old man being perfectly contented with it . He spent in all not more than three thousand francs a year there ; for he dined in Paris five days in the week , and returned home at midnight in a hackney-coach , which belonged to an establishment at Courtille . The cook had only her master 's breakfast to provide on those days . This was served at eleven o'clock ; after that he dressed and perfumed himself , and departed for Paris . Usually , a bourgeois gives notice in the household if he dines out ; old Cardot , on the contrary , gave notice when he dined at home .