eleven o'clock
It was his opinion that women were good for nothing and that they spoiled everything when they took a hand in a serious affair . But Francoise did not retire . She sat for a long while upon the side of her bed , listening to the noises of the house . The German soldiers encamped in the courtyard sang and laughed ; they must have been eating and drinking until eleven o'clock , for the racket did not cease an instant . In the mill itself heavy footsteps resounded from time to time , without doubt those of the sentinels who were being relieved . But she was interested most by the sounds she could distinguish in the apartment beneath her chamber . Many times she stretched herself out at full length and put her ear to the floor .