six o'clock in the morning
* * * * * `` All that is requisite , '' said the prince , on his return home , `` to save this excellent woman from the perils of another attachment , is to fill her mind with generous thoughts ; and , since an invincible repugnance separates her from her husband , to employ her love for the romantic in such charitable actions as shall require being enshrouded in mystery . '' The reader has probably not forgotten that the garret in the Rue du Temple was occupied by an unfortunate family , the father of whom was a working lapidary , named Morel . We shall now endeavour to describe the wretched abode of Morel and his children . It was six o'clock in the morning ; a deep silence dwelt around . The streets were still deserted , for the snow fell fast , and the cold , biting wind froze as it blew . A miserable candle , stuck upon a small block of wood , and supported by two slips of the same material , scarcely penetrated with its yellow , flickering light the misty darkness of the garret , -- a narrow , low-built place , two-thirds of which was formed by the sloping roof , which communicated by a sharp angle with the wretched flooring , and freely exposed the moss-covered tiles of the outer roof . Walls covered with plaster , blackened by time , and split into countless crevices , displayed the rotten , worm-eaten laths , which formed the frail division from other chambers , while in one corner of this deplorable habitation a door off the hinges opened upon a narrow staircase .