three in the afternoon
Neither of them could avoid it , or consistently tried to avoid it . Although Marthe did not eat with Christine , if a meal was in progress she generally came into the sitting-room with her mouth more or less full of food . Their repasts were trifles , passovers , unceremonious and irregular peckings , begun and finished in a few moments . And if Marthe was always untidy in her person , Christine , up till three in the afternoon , was also untidy . They went about the flat in a wonderful state of unkempt and insecure slovenliness . And sometimes Marthe might be lolling in the sitting-room over the illustrations in _ La Vie Parisienne _ , which was part of the apparatus of the flat , while Christine was in the tiny kitchen washing gloves as she alone could wash them . The flat lapsed into at any rate a superficial calm .