three o'clock
His wife smoked on without interfering . Duroy hesitated : `` Excuse me . I believed -- I -- thought -- '' Then , in a clear voice , he said : `` I beg a thousand pardons , Madame , and thank you very much for the charming article you wrote for me yesterday . '' Then he bowed , and said to Charles : `` I will be at the office at three o'clock . '' He returned home saying to himself : `` Very well , I will write it alone and they shall see . '' Scarcely had he entered than he began to write , anger spurring him on . In an hour he had finished an article , which was a chaos of absurd matter , and took it boldly to the office .