four o'clock
The Cardinal was a free agent , -- he had a perfect right to befriend a homeless boy and give him sustenance and protection if he chose . He would make , thought Madame , a perfect acolyte , and would look like a young angel in his little white surplice . And so the good woman , deciding in her own mind that such was the simple destiny for which the Cardinal intended him , smiled , murmured something deferential and approving , and hastened from the room , to prepare for Monseigneur , whether he asked for it or not , a dish of her most excellent soup , to strengthen and support him before starting on his journey . And ere four o'clock had chimed from all the towers of the city , the Hotel Poitiers was deprived of its honoured guest , -- the Cardinal , accompanied by his foundling , had departed , and the black , smoky , snake-like train had rushed with them through the smiling peace of the Normandy pasture-lands on towards the brilliant `` city enthroned in wickedness , '' which sparkles like a jewel on the borders of the Seine as gloriously as ever Babylon sparkled on the shores of Euphrates . As godless , as hollow to the very core of rottenness , as her sister of ancient days , wanton `` Lutetia '' shines , -- with the ghastly and unnatural lustre of phosphorescent luminance arising from old graves -- and as divinely determined as the destruction of the old-time city splendid , is the approaching downfall of the modern capital . To the inhabitants of Rouen , the very name of Paris carries with it a kind of awe , -- it excites various emotions of wonder , admiration , longing , curiosity and even fear , -- for Paris is a witches ' cauldron in which Republicanism , Imperialism , Royalism , Communism and Socialism , are all thrown by the Fates to seethe together in a hellish broth of conflicting elements -- and the smoke of it ascends in reeking blasphemy to Heaven . Not from its church-altars does the cry of `` How long , O Lord , how long ! ''