seven o'clock
in the evening
The sarcasm and grotesqueness of this idea won it ready acceptance , Sandoval being the first to applaud it , for he had long wished to see the interior of one of those establishments which at night appeared to be so merry and cheerful . Just as the orchestra struck up for the second act , the young men arose and left the theater , to the scandal of the whole house . Simoun had not , in fact , gone to the theater . Already , at seven o'clock in the evening , he had left his house looking worried and gloomy . His servants saw him return twice , accompanied by different individuals , and at eight o'clock Makaraig encountered him pacing along Calle Hospital near the nunnery of St. Clara , just when the bells of its church were ringing a funeral knell . At nine Camaroncocido saw him again , in the neighborhood of the theater , speak with a person who seemed to be a student , pay the latter 's admission to the show , and again disappear among the shadows of the trees . `` What is it to me ? ''