four o’clock
`` Mon Dieu ! Madame , '' he said , `` your reasons seem to me excellent -- a duel to be prevented , a son to be kept by the side of his sick mother , two young people who love each other to be married , the saving , possibly , of two souls -- '' `` Say three souls , Monsieur l'Abbe ! '' He did not ask whose was the third , nor even why she had insisted that this delicate commission must be executed that same day . He only bowed when she said again : `` At four o'clock : Madame d'Argy will be prepared to see you . Thank you , Monsieur l'Abbe . '' And then , as she descended the staircase , he bestowed upon her silently his most earnest benediction , before returning to the cold cutlet that was on his breakfast table . Giselle did not breakfast much better than he .