nine o'clock in the evening
Then we wept together , and Aunt Grédel would rail at the wars which brought misery to every one . She said that the Council of Revision deserved to be hung ; that they were all robbers , banded together to poison our lives . It solaced us a little to hear her talk thus , and we thought she was right . I returned to the city about eight or nine o'clock in the evening , when they closed the gates , and as I passed , I saw the small inns full of conscripts and old returned soldiers drinking together . The conscripts always paid ; the others , with dirty police caps cocked over their ears , red noses , and horse-hair stocks in place of shirt-collars , twisted their mustaches and related with majestic air their battles , their marches , and their duels . One can imagine nothing viler than those holes , full of smoke , cob-webs hanging on the black beams , those old sworders and young men drinking , shouting , and beating the tables like crazy people ; and behind , in the shadow , old Annette Schnaps or Marie Héring -- her old wig stuck back on her head , her comb with only three teeth remaining , crosswise , in it -- gazing on the scene , or emptying a mug to the health of the braves . It was sad to see the sons of peasants , honest and laborious fellows , leading such an existence ; but no one thought of working , and any one of them would have given his life for two farthings .