about eight o'clock
Jean 's spirit was broken . The well-nigh unanimous verdict against him had convinced his minutely sensitive soul that it had done wrong . He lay quietly , and would say nothing to anyone . Some time after the soup , about eight o'clock , the Fighting Sheeney and The Trick Raincoat suddenly set upon Jean le Nègre à propos of nothing ; and began pommelling him cruelly . The conscience-stricken pillar of beautiful muscle -- who could have easily killed both his assailants at one blow -- not only offered no reciprocatory violence but refused even to defend himself . Unresistingly , wincing with pain , his arms mechanically raised and his head bent , he was battered frightfully to the window by his bed , thence into the corner -LRB- upsetting the stool in the _ pissoir _ -RRB- , thence along the wall to the door . As the punishment increased he cried out like a child : '' _ Laissez-moi tranquille !