seven o’clock
The Comte de la Fere , who had remained a young man to his sixty-second year ; the warrior who had preserved his strength in spite of fatigue ; his freshness of mind in spite of misfortune , his mild serenity of soul and body in spite of Milady , in spite of Mazarin , in spite of La Valliere ; Athos had become an old man in a week , from the moment at which he lost the comfort of his later youth . Still handsome , though bent , noble , but sad , he sought , since his solitude , the deeper glades where sunshine scarcely penetrated . He discontinued all the mighty exercises he had enjoyed through life , when Raoul was no longer with him . The servants , accustomed to see him stirring with the dawn at all seasons , were astonished to hear seven o'clock strike before their master quitted his bed . Athos remained in bed with a book under his pillow -- but he did not sleep , neither did he read . Remaining in bed that he might no longer have to carry his body , he allowed his soul and spirit to wander from their envelope and return to his son , or to God . -LSB- 6 -RSB- His people were sometimes terrified to see him , for hours together , absorbed in silent reverie , mute and insensible ; he no longer heard the timid step of the servant who came to the door of his chamber to watch the sleeping or waking of his master .