About midnight
I beg your pardon , Madame , I forgot . '' I need not say that the evening which they spent at Genet , was melancholy enough , and the privations which they suffered were dreadful . During the early part of the night both Madame de Lescure and Marie lay down for a few hours , but nothing , which could be said , would induce them to keep the old priest longer from his bed . About midnight they got up and spent the remainder of the night seated on the two chairs near the fire , while Father Jerome squatted on the stool , and with his elbows on his knees , and his face upon his hands , sat out the long night , meditating upon the fortunes of La Vendée . They started early on the next morning , and the priest of St. Laud 's went with them , leaving Father Bernard in perfect solitude , for he had neither friend or relative to reside beneath his roof . `` Some of them will come down from time to time , '' said Father Jerome , `` and do what little can be done for him , poor old man ! His sufferings , it is to be hoped , will not last many days . ''