nine o’clock
He thought of old Moineaud , the fitter , whom he again saw standing silent and unmoved in the women 's workroom while his daughter Euphrasie was being soundly rated by Beauchene , and while Norine , the other girl , looked on with a sly laugh . When the toiler 's children have grown up and gone to join , the lads the army of slaughter , and the girls the army of vice , the father , degraded by the ills of life , pays little heed to it all . To him it is seemingly a matter of indifference to what disaster the wind may carry the fledgelings who fall from the nest . It was now half-past nine o'clock , and Mathieu had more than an hour before him to reach the Northern railway station . So he did not hurry , but strolled very leisurely up the Boulevards . He had eaten and drunk far more than usual , and Beauchene 's insidious confidential talk , still buzzing in his ears , helped on his intoxication . His hands were hot , and now and again a sudden glow passed over his face .