six o'clock
For two interminable days succeeding the Sunday evening when the conflict first broke out the citizens had lived in their cellars , quaking with fear , and when they ventured out at last on Wednesday morning , the spectacle of bloodshed and devastation that met their eyes on every side , and more particularly the frightful ruin entailed by the conflagrations , aroused in their breasts feelings the bitterest and most vindictive . It was felt in every quarter that the punishment must be worthy of the crime . The houses in the suspected quarters were subjected to a rigorous search and men and women who were at all tainted with suspicion were led away in droves and shot without formality . At six o'clock of the evening of that day the army of the Versaillese was master of the half of Paris , following the line of the principal avenues from the park of Montsouris to the station of the Northern Railway , and the remainder of the braver members of the Commune , a mere handful , some twenty or so , had taken refuge in the _ mairie _ of the eleventh arrondissement , in the Boulevard Voltaire . They were silent when he concluded his narration , and Maurice , his glance vaguely wandering over the city through the open window that let in the soft , warm air of evening , murmured : `` Well , the work goes on ; Paris continues to burn ! '' It was true : the flames were becoming visible again in the increasing darkness and the heavens were reddened once more with the ill-omened light . That afternoon the powder magazine at the Luxembourg had exploded with a frightful detonation , which gave rise to a report that the Pantheon had collapsed and sunk into the catacombs .