However, that which more particularly struck Pierre now that he stood there waiting was the extraordinary silence which prevailed all around, silence so deep that it seemed as if all the dark quiescence of that huge, somniferous Vatican were concentrated in that one suite of lifeless, sumptuous rooms, which the motionless flamelets of the lamps as dimly illumined.
* M.Zola seems to have fallen into error here.

Many of the seats, which are of peculiar antique design, do, in the lower part, resemble stools, but they have backs, whereas a stool proper has none.

Briefly, these seats, which are entirely of wood, are not unlike certain old-fashioned hall chairs .-- Trans.
All at once the ebony clock struck nine and the young man felt astonished.

What! had only ten minutes elapsed since he had crossed the threshold of the bronze doors below?
He felt as if he had been walking on for days and days.

Then, desiring to overcome the nervous feeling which oppressed him--for he ever feared lest his enforced calmness should collapse amidst a flood of tears--he began to walk up and down, passing in front of the clock, glancing at the crucifix on the pier table, and the globe of the lamp on which had remained the mark of a servant's greasy fingers.