five
o'clock
There were hurried paroxysms of coughing that seemed almost to strangle her ; spasms that would break off for a moment , then begin again ; and the pauses caused the ear and the heart to experience a nervous , anxious anticipation of what was certain to come next , and always did come , -- racking and tearing , dying away again , but still vibrating in the ear , even when it had ceased : never silent , never willing to have done . And yet Germinie rose from those horrible nights with an energy and activity that amazed mademoiselle and at times reassured her . She was out of bed as early as anybody in the house . One morning , at five o'clock , she went with the man-servant in a _ char-à-banc _ to a mill-pond three leagues away , for fish ; at another time she dragged herself to the saint 's day ball , with the maids from the house , and did not return until they did , at daybreak . She worked all the time ; assisted the servants . She was always sitting on the edge of a chair , in a corner of the kitchen , doing something with her fingers . Mademoiselle was obliged to force her to go out , to drive her into the garden to sit .