four o'clock
A variety of expressions , all irritable or hostile , passed through the large , languid eyes . * * * * * The afternoon faded -- on the blue surface of the distant ` canal , ' the great poplars that stand sentinel at the western edge of the Park , one to right , and one to left -- last _ gardes du corps _ of the House of France ! -- threw long shadows on the water ; and across the opening which they marked , drifted the smoke of burning weeds , the only but sufficient symbol , amid the splendid scene , of that peasant France which destroyed Versailles . It was four o'clock , and to their left , as they sat sheltered on the southern side of the château , the visitors of the day were pouring out into the gardens . The shutters of the lower rooms , in the apartments of the Dauphin and of Mesdames , were being closed one by one , by the _ gardiens _ within . Eugénie peered through the window beside her . She saw before her a long vista of darkened and solitary rooms , dim portraits of the marshals of France just visible on their walls .