six o’clock
As a rule Mathieu left at six o'clock ; but that day he went into Morange 's office at half-past five to receive his month 's salary . This rightly amounted to three hundred and fifty francs ; but as five hundred had been advanced to him in January , which he paid back by instalments of fifty , he now received only fifteen louis , and these he pocketed with such an air of satisfaction that the accountant commented on it . `` Well , '' said the young fellow , `` the money 's welcome , for I left my wife with just thirty sous this morning . '' It was already more than six o'clock when he found himself outside the superb house which the Seguin du Hordel family occupied in the Avenue d'Antin . Seguin 's grandfather had been a mere tiller of the soil at Janville . Later on , his father , as a contractor for the army , had made a considerable fortune . And he , son of a parvenu , led the life of a rich , elegant idler .