seven
o’clock
That evening there was a very touching farewell scene at the little house at Neuilly . When Pierre returned thither from the Chamber , saddened but reassured with regard to the future , Guillaume at once made up his mind to go home on the morrow . And as Nicholas Barthes was compelled to leave , the little dwelling seemed on the point of relapsing into dreary quietude once more . Theophile Morin , whom Pierre had informed of the painful alternative in which Barthes was placed , duly came to dinner ; but he did not have time to speak to the old man before they all sat down to table at seven o'clock . As usual Barthes had spent his day in marching , like a caged lion , up and down the room in which he had accepted shelter after the fashion of a big fearless child , who never worried with regard either to his present circumstances or the troubles which the future might have in store for him . His life had ever been one of unlimited hope , which reality had ever shattered . Although all that he had loved , all that he had hoped to secure by fifty years of imprisonment or exile , -- liberty , equality and a real brotherly republic , -- had hitherto failed to come , such as he had dreamt of them , he nevertheless retained the candid faith of his youth , and was ever confident in the near future .