ten o'clock
At first he thought he was not going to discover so much as a crust , what was left over of the bread having all found its way to the ambulance in the form of soup . At last , however , in the dark corner of a cupboard he came across the remainder of the beans from yesterday 's dinner , where they had been forgotten , and ate them . He accomplished his luxurious repast without the formality of sitting down , without the accompaniment of salt and butter , for which he did not care to trouble himself to ascend to the floor above , desirous only to get away as speedily as possible from that dismal kitchen , where the blinking , smoking little lamp perfumed the air with fumes of petroleum . It was not much more than ten o'clock , and Delaherche had no other occupation than to speculate on the various probabilities connected with the signing of the capitulation . A persistent apprehension haunted him ; a dread lest the conflict might be renewed , and the horrible thought of what the consequences must be in such an event , of which he could not speak , but which rested on his bosom like an incubus . When he had reascended to his study , where he found Maurice and Jean in exactly the same position he had left them in , it was all in vain that he settled himself comfortably in his favorite easy-chair ; sleep would not come to him ; just as he was on the point of losing himself the crash of a shell would arouse him with a great start . It was the frightful cannonade of the day , the echoes of which were still ringing in his ears ; and he would listen breathlessly for a moment , then sit and shudder at the equally appalling silence by which he was now surrounded .