midnight
After the performance a brilliant crowd undulated like waves in the halls of the first story . The most animated and varied conversation took place , and I can truly affirm that cheerfulness and sincerity were the life of those conversations , and their principal charm . Refreshments of all kinds were distributed , and Josephine performed the honors of those gatherings with so much amiableness and complacency that each one might believe she busied herself more with him than with any one else . At the end of the delightful soirees , which generally closed after midnight , we returned to Paris , where the cares of life awaited us . '' -LSB- Footnote : Bourrienne , `` Memoires , '' vol . v. , p. 26 . -RSB- Time was spent not only in festivities and amusements at Malmaison , but sciences and arts also formed there a serious occupation , and it was Josephine who was the prime mover .