midnight
He seemed to see a thick vapour rising up from each pavilion . In the distance the meat and tripe markets reeked with the sickening steam of blood ; nearer in , the vegetable and fruit pavilions diffused the odour of pungent cabbages , rotten apples , and decaying leaves ; the butter and cheese exhaled a poisonous stench ; from the fish market came a sharp , fresh gust ; while from the ventilator in the tower of the poultry pavilion just below him , he could see a warm steam issuing , a fetid current rising in coils like the sooty smoke from a factory chimney . And all these exhalations coalesced above the roofs , drifted towards the neighbouring houses , and spread themselves out in a heavy cloud which stretched over the whole of Paris . It was as though the markets were bursting within their tight belt of iron , were beating the slumber of the gorged city with the stertorous fumes of their midnight indigestion . However , on the footway down below Florent presently heard a sound of voices , the laughter of happy folks . Then the door of the passage was closed noisily . It was Quenu and Lisa coming home from the theatre .