seven o’clock
Thereupon , it was settled that as the train only started at seventeen minutes past ten Victorine should serve Pierre his supper on the little table in his sitting-room at eight o'clock . She brought him a lamp and spoke of putting his linen in order , but he absolutely declined her help , and she had to leave him to pack up quietly by himself . He had purchased a little box , since his valise could not possibly hold all the linen and winter clothing which had been sent to him from Paris as his stay in Rome became more and more protracted . However , the packing was soon accomplished ; the wardrobe was emptied , the drawers were visited , the box and valise filled and securely locked by seven o'clock . An hour remained to him before supper and he sat there resting , when his eyes whilst travelling round the walls to make sure that he had forgotten nothing , encountered that old painting by some unknown master , which had so often filled him with emotion . The lamplight now shone full upon it ; and this time again as he gazed at it he felt a blow in the heart , a blow which was all the deeper , as now , at his parting hour , he found a symbol of his defeat at Rome in that dolent , tragic , half-naked woman , draped in a shred of linen , and weeping between her clasped hands whilst seated on the threshold of the palace whence she had been driven . Did not that rejected one , that stubborn victim of love , who sobbed so bitterly , and of whom one knew nothing , neither what her face was like , nor whence she had come , nor what her fault had been -- did she not personify all man 's useless efforts to force the doors of truth , and all the frightful abandonment into which he falls as soon as he collides with the wall which shuts the unknown off from him ?