ten o’clock
Thus it was that this grotesque personage , this pale , flabby , tun-bellied citizen became , in one night , a terrible captain , whom nobody dared to ridicule any more . He had steeped his foot in blood . The inhabitants of the old quarter stood dumb with fright before the corpses . But towards ten o'clock , when the respectable people of the new town arrived , the whole square hummed with subdued chatter . People spoke of the other attack , of the seizure of the mayor 's office , in which a mirror only had been wounded ; but this time they no longer pooh-poohed Rougon , they spoke of him with respectful dismay ; he was indeed a hero , a deliverer . The corpses , with open eyes , stared at those gentlemen , the lawyers and householders , who shuddered as they murmured that civil war had many cruel necessities . The notary , the chief of the deputation sent to the town-hall on the previous evening , went from group to group , recalling the proud words `` I am prepared ! ''