three o’clock in the afternoon
Even after dinner she no longer had her son ; he was obliged to stay with his guests , whose number grew each day as the _ fetes _ approached ; not even the resource of talking to M. Paul about her grandchildren was left , for Jansoulet , a little embarrassed by the seriousness of his friend , had sent him to spend a few days with his brothers . And the careful housekeeper , to whom they came every minute asking the keys for linen , for a room , for extra silver , thought of her piles of beautiful dishes , of the sacking of her cupboards and larders , remembered the state in which the old Bey 's visit had left the castle , devastated as by a cyclone , and said in her _ patois _ as she feverishly wet the linen on her distaff : `` May lightning strike them , this Bey and all the Beys ! '' At last the day came , the great day which is still spoken of in all the country-side . Towards three o'clock in the afternoon , after a sumptuous luncheon at which the old mother presided , this time in a new cap , over a company composed of Parisian celebrities , prefects , deputies , all in full uniform , mayors with their sashes , priests newshaven , Jansoulet in full dress stepped out on to the terrace surrounded by his guests . He saw before him in that splendid frame of magnificent natural scenery , in the midst of flags and arches and coats of arms , a vast swarm of people , a flare of brilliant costumes in rows on the slopes , at corners of the walks ; here , grouped in beds , like flowers on a lawn , the prettiest girls of Arles , whose little dark heads showed delicately from beneath their lace fichus ; farther down were the dancers from Barbantane -- eight tambourine players in a line , ready to begin , their hands joined , ribbons flying , hats cocked , and the red scarves round their hips ; beyond them , on the succeeding terraces were the choral societies in rows , dressed in black with red caps , their standard-bearer in front , grave , important , his teeth clinched , holding high his carved staff ; farther down still , on a vast circular space now arranged as an amphitheatre , were the black bulls , and the herdsmen from Camargue seated on their long-haired white horses , their high boots over their knees , at their wrists an uplifted spear ; then more flags , helmets , bayonets , and decorations right down to the triumphal arch at the gates ; as far as the eye could see , on the other side of the Rhone -LRB- across which the two railways had made a pontoon bridge that they might come straight from the station to Saint-Romans -RRB- , whole villages were assembling from every side , crowding to the Giffas road in a cloud of dust and a confusion of cries , sitting at the hedge-sides , clinging to the elms , squeezed in carts -- a living wall for the procession . Above all a great white sun which scintillated in every direction -- on the copper of a tambourine , on the point of a trident , on the fringe of a banner ; and in the midst the great proud Rhone carrying to the sea the moving picture of this royal feast . Before these marvels , where shone all the gold of his coffers , the Nabob had a sudden feeling of admiration and of pride .