eight o’clock
The young men applauded with a laugh ; and all reascended to the ballroom as lightly as they would have gone to the battlefield . It was on the day following the assembly that had taken place in the house of Marion de Lorme . A thick snow covered the roofs of Paris and settled in its large gutters and streets , where it arose in gray heaps , furrowed by the wheels of carriages . It was eight o'clock , and the night was dark . The tumult of the city was silent on account of the thick carpet the winter had spread for it , and which deadened the sound of the wheels over the stones , and of the feet of men and horses . In a narrow street that winds round the old church of St. Eustache , a man , enveloped in his cloak , slowly walked up and down , constantly watching for the appearance of some one . He often seated himself upon one of the posts of the church , sheltering himself from the falling snow under one of the statues of saints which jutted out from the roof of the building , stretching over the narrow path like birds of prey , which , about to make a stoop , have folded their wings .