ten o'clock
The scum of the population of Paris , an immense mob , was composed of bandits and abandoned women , who demand each day from crime their daily bread , and who each night return well filled to their dens . The exterior boulevard being very contracted at this place , the closely-packed crowd entirely blocked up the passageway . In spite of his athletic strength , the Slasher was obliged to remain almost immovable in the midst of this compact mass ; he submitted . The prince , leaving the Rue Plumet at ten o'clock , as they had told him , would not leave the Barrière Charenton until about eleven , and it was not yet seven . Although formerly he had associated with the degraded classes to which this mob belonged , the Slasher , on again finding himself among them , felt invincible disgust . Crowded , by the reflux of the mob , against the wall of one of the wine shops , which swarm on these boulevards , through the open window from whence escaped the deafening sound of a brass band , the Slasher saw , against his will , a strange spectacle . In a long low room -LRB- one end of which was occupied by the musicians -RRB- , surrounded by benches and tables covered with the remains of a repast , broken plates , and overturned bottles , a dozen men and women disguised , half drunk , were dancing _ La Chahut _ a dance which was never performed except at the end of the _ ball _ , when the municipal guards had retired .