a quarter past ten
Toward the termination of 1702 , Clarice was delivered of a daughter . Great was the joy through the whole house . Buvat did not feel at all at his ease ; he ran up and down stairs , beating his thighs with his hands , and singing below his breath the burden of his favorite song , `` Then let me go , and let me play , '' etc. . That day , for the first time since he had been appointed , that is to say , during two years , he arrived at his office at a quarter past ten , instead of ten o'clock exactly . A supernumerary , who thought that he must be dead , had asked for his place . The little Bathilde was not a week old before Buvat wished to begin teaching her her strokes and pot-hooks , saying , that to learn a thing well , it is necessary to commence young . It was with the greatest difficulty that he was made to understand that he must wait till she was two or three years old .