eight o’clock before
It was the final Benediction -- the _ Tantum ergo _ sung loudly by the choristers , the incenses of the boxes burning in the censers , the strange , brusque silence during the prayer -- and in the midst of the lighted church , overflowing with clergy and with people , under the high , springing arches , Monseigneur remounted to the altar , took again in his two hands the great golden sun , which he waved back and forth in the air three times , with a slow sign of the Cross . That same evening , on returning from church , Angelique thought to herself , `` I shall see him again very soon , for he will certainly be in the Clos-Marie , and I will go there to meet him . '' Without having exchanged a word with each other , they appeared to have silently arranged this interview . The family dined as usual in the kitchen , but it was eight o'clock before they were seated at the table . Hubert , quite excited by this day of recreation and of fete , was the only one who had anything to say . Hubertine , unusually quiet , scarcely replied to her husband , but kept her looks fixed upon the young girl , who ate heartily and with a good appetite , although she scarcely seemed to pay any attention to the food , or to know that she put her fork to her mouth , so absorbed was she by her fancies . And under this candid forehead , as under the crystal of the purest water , Hubertine read her thoughts clearly , and followed them as they formed themselves in her mind one by one .