ten o'clock
In fact , she was calm , almost content . The satisfaction due her had been delayed a strangely long time , but at last it would be hers ; to-day she , too , was to learn that the hand of justice could stroke her with maternal kindness , after having hitherto , during her whole life , experienced only its power to deal blows . The road which , in the autumn , had been thoroughly soaked , had recently been frozen hard by the early frosts , and they made such rapid progress that , after a ride of barely five hours , the vehicle reached the city and stopped in front of the town hall . The beginning of the examination had been fixed at ten o'clock , but it was fully eleven before it commenced . The room in which it took place presented no imposing appearance . It was an apartment , or if one chooses to call it so , a hall of ordinary size , with four windows ; in the centre was a wooden railing which divided it into two nearly equal parts ; inside was the usual apparatus of justice , a green-covered table with writing materials and a black crucifix , between two candlesticks , placed on a platform for the court-room ; at the right , also on the platform , a small table for the prosecuting attorney ; below , a wooden bench for the defendant , two police officers , and a little table for the lawyer for the defence . Outside the railing stood a few wooden benches , which afforded room for about forty persons .