midnight
The lottery-offices of the government , the lot , as one might say , of privileged widows , ordinarily sufficed for the support of the family of each person who managed them . But after the Restoration the difficulty of rewarding , within the limits of constitutional government , all the services rendered to the cause , led to the custom of giving to reduced women of title not only one but two lottery-offices , worth , usually , from six to ten thousand a year . In such cases , the widow of a general or nobleman thus `` protected '' did not keep the lottery-office herself ; she employed a paid manager . When these managers were young men they were obliged to employ an assistant ; for , according to law , the offices had to be kept open till midnight ; moreover , the reports required by the minister of finance involved considerable writing . The Comtesse de Bauvan , to whom the Abbe Loraux explained the circumstances of the widow Bridau , promised , in case her manager should leave , to give the place to Agathe ; meantime she stipulated that the widow should be taken as assistant , and receive a salary of six hundred francs . Poor Agathe , who was obliged to be at the office by ten in the morning , had scarcely time to get her dinner . She returned to her work at seven in the evening , remaining there till midnight .