seventeen minutes past ten
And when this first coffin had been placed in the second one , a leaden shell , and the second had been enclosed in the third , of stout oak , and when the three lids had been soldered and screwed down , the lovers ' faces could still be seen through the circular opening , covered with thick glass , which in accordance with the Roman custom had been left in each of the coffins . And then , for ever parted from the living , alone together , they still gazed at one another with their eyes obstinately open , having all eternity before them wherein to exhaust their infinite love . ON the following day , on his return from the funeral Pierre lunched alone in his room , having decided to take leave of the Cardinal and Donna Serafina during the afternoon . He was quitting Rome that evening by the train which started at seventeen minutes past ten . There was nothing to detain him any longer ; there was only one visit which he desired to make , a visit to old Orlando , with whom he had promised to have a long chat prior to his departure . And so a little before two o'clock he sent for a cab which took him to the Via Venti Settembre . A fine rain had fallen all night , its moisture steeping the city in grey vapour ; and though this rain had now ceased the sky remained very dark , and the huge new mansions of the Via Venti Settembre were quite livid , interminably mournful with their balconies ever of the same pattern and their regular and endless rows of windows .