seven
o'clock
The Comte de la Fere , who had remained a young man up to his sixty-second year ; the warrior , who had preserved his strength in spite of fatigues , his freshness of mind in spite of misfortunes , his mild serenity of soul and body in spite of Milady , in spite of Mazarin , in spite of La Valliere ; Athos had become an old man in a week , from the moment at which he had lost the support of his latter youth . Still handsome , though bent ; noble , but sad ; gently , and tottering under his gray hairs , he sought , since his solitude , the glades where the rays of the sun penetrated through the foliage of the walks . He discontinued all the strong exercises he had enjoyed through life , when Raoul was no longer with him . The servants , accustomed to see him stirring with the dawn at all seasons , were astonished to hear seven o'clock strike before their master had quitted his bed . Athos remained in bed with a book under his pillow , but he did not sleep , neither did he read . Remaining in bed that he might no longer have to carry his body , he allowed his soul and spirit to wander from their envelope , and return to his son , or to God . His people were sometimes terrified to see him , for hours together , absorbed in a silent reverie , mute and insensible ; he no longer heard the timid step of the servant who came to the door of his chamber to watch the sleeping or waking of his master .