nine o’clock in the evening
-- I pity you ! '' With those fine words Chaudieu turned and left him . Some days after that scene , the Lallier family and the Lecamus family were gathered together in honor of the formal betrothal of Christophe and Babette , in the old brown hall , from which Christophe 's bed had been removed ; for he was now able to drag himself about and even mount the stairs without his crutches . It was nine o'clock in the evening and the company were awaiting Ambroise Pare . The family notary sat before a table on which lay various contracts . The furrier was selling his house and business to his head-clerk , who was to pay down forty thousand francs for the house and then mortgage it as security for the payment of the goods , for which , however , he paid twenty thousand francs on account . Lecamus was also buying for his son a magnificent stone house , built by Philibert de l'Orme in the rue Saint-Pierre-aux-Boeufs , which he gave to Christophe as a marriage portion .