three o’clock in the afternoon
When Cecile returned from obtaining change for the gold , he contented himself with taking one of the four five-franc pieces which she brought up with her . And he did not tarry to torture them as was his wont , but immediately went off with the money he had levied , whistling the while the air of a hunting-song . The 5th of the ensuing month , a Saturday , was one of the gloomiest , most rainy days of that wretched , mournful winter . Darkness fell rapidly already at three o'clock in the afternoon , and it became almost night . At the deserted end of Rue de la Federation there was an expanse of waste ground , a building site , for long years enclosed by a fence , which dampness had ended by rotting . Some of the boards were missing , and at one part there was quite a breach . All through that afternoon , in spite of the constantly recurring downpours , a scraggy girl remained stationed near that breach , wrapped to her eyes in the ragged remnants of an old shawl , doubtless for protection against the cold .