three o'clock in
the afternoon
All day he played with Love , saying , every time that the animal showed his white teeth , `` Ah , rebel ! you want to bite me also ; you attack your king also ; but you are conquered , M. Love -- conquered , wretched leaguer -- conquered . '' His secretaries of state were somewhat astonished at all this , particularly as he said nothing else , and signed everything without looking at it . At three o'clock in the afternoon he asked for D'Epernon . They replied that he was reviewing the light horse ; then he inquired for De Loignac , but he also was absent . He asked for lunch , and , while he ate , had an edifying discourse read to him , which he interrupted by saying to the reader , `` Was it not Plutarch who wrote the life of Sylla ? '' `` Yes , sire , '' said the reader , much astonished at being interrupted in his pious reading by this profane question .