two o'clock in the morning
He received no visitors ; and the people in the neighborhood thought him a poor man who had lost his family and squandered his money in unfortunate speculations . He never left the house until evening and always returned very late at night . A sans-culotte , who lived near by and whose suspicions had been aroused , followed him one evening . He fancied him a conspirator , he saw him enter the Palais Égalité , speak to several persons who seemed to listen to him with extreme deference , and afterwards repair to the house of one of the most influential members of the Committee of Public Safety , where he remained until two o'clock in the morning , and then returned home . The self-constituted spy concluded that he had to deal with one of the Committee 's secret agents ; and he was inspired with such wholesome awe that he decided to push his investigations no further . In reality , Vauquelas was nothing more nor less than a man tormented by an unappeasable thirst for wealth . He had only one passion : a passion for gold .