Midnight
On the 28th of January the news burst on Paris like a thunderclap that for the past two days negotiations had been going on , between Jules Favre and M. von Bismarck , looking to an armistice , and at the same time it learned that there was bread for only ten days longer , a space of time that would hardly suffice to revictual the city . Capitulation was become a matter of material necessity . Paris , stupefied by the hard truths that were imparted to it at that late day , remained sullenly silent and made no sign . Midnight of that day heard the last shot from the German guns , and on the 29th , when the Prussians had taken possession of the forts , Maurice went with his regiment into the camp that was assigned them over by Montrouge , within the fortifications . The life that he led there was an aimless one , made up of idleness and feverish unrest . Discipline was relaxed ; the soldiers did pretty much as they pleased , waiting in inactivity to be dismissed to their homes . He , however , continued to hang around the camp in a semi-dazed condition , moody , nervous , irritable , prompt to take offense on the most trivial provocation .