about midnight
When I think of his Excellency 's wife , and how little she helps him ! the good woman is a comfortable middle-class dowdy , and when she goes to the palace or into society -- '' He pinched his lips together . Very busy men are apt to have very ignorant notions about household matters , and you can make them believe that a hundred thousand francs afford little or that twelve thousand afford all . Though impatiently expected , and in spite of the flattering dishes prepared for the palate of the gourmet-emeritus , des Lupeaulx did not come to dinner ; in fact he came in very late , about midnight , an hour when company dwindles and conversations become intimate and confidential . Andoche Finot , the journalist , was one of the few remaining guests . `` I now know all , '' said des Lupeaulx , when he was comfortably seated on a sofa at the corner of the fireplace , a cup of tea in his hand and Madame Rabourdin standing before him with a plate of sandwiches and some slices of cake very appropriately called `` leaden cake . '' `` Finot , my dear and witty friend , you can render a great service to our gracious queen by letting loose a few dogs upon the men we were talking of .