About seven o’clock
Nor for some time had she any other thought than the combination of various plans to this end . The faculty of self-concentration seen in rough , uneducated persons , explained on a previous page , the reserve power accumulated in those whose mental energies are unworn by the daily wear and tear of social life , and brought into action so soon as that terrible weapon the `` fixed idea '' is brought into play , -- all this was pre-eminently manifested in La Cibot . Even as the `` fixed idea '' works miracles of evasion , and brings forth prodigies of sentiment , so greed transformed the portress till she became as formidable as a Nucingen at bay , as subtle beneath her seeming stupidity as the irresistible La Palferine . About seven o'clock one morning , a few days afterwards , she saw Remonencq taking down his shutters . She went across to him . `` How could one find out how much the things yonder in my gentlemen 's rooms are worth ? '' she asked in a wheedling tone .