midnight
They draw him into the Hall of Deliberation . Now they are all there , these illustrious outlaws , -- Lebas , Saint-Just , Couthon . Robespierre has the word . It is midnight and past , he is still speaking . Meantime Gamelin in the Council Hall , his bent brow pressed against a window , looks out with a haggard eye and sees the lamps flare and smoke in the gloom . Hanriot 's cannon are parked before the Hôtel de Ville . In the black Place de Grève surges an anxious crowd , in uncertainty and suspense .