midnight
Claude was greeted with a growl like that of wild beasts disturbed in their lair . What kept him motionless was the strange aspect of this place on the morning of the ` truck night , ' as the embryo architects termed the crucial night of labour . Since the previous evening , the whole studio , some sixty pupils , had been shut up there ; those who had no designs to exhibit -- ` the niggers , ' as they were called remaining to help the others , the competitors who , being behind time , had to knock off the work of a week in a dozen hours . Already , at midnight , they had stuffed themselves with brawn , saveloys , and similar viands , washed down with cheap wine . Towards one o'clock they had secured the company of some ` ladies ' ; and , without the work abating , the feast had turned into a Roman orgy , blended with a smoking competition . On the damp , stained floor there remained a great litter of greasy paper and broken bottles ; while the atmosphere reeked of burnt tallow , musk , highly seasoned sausages , and cheap bluish wine . And now many voices savagely yelled : ` Turn him out .