one o'clock on Sundays
She believed in Him firmly , adored Him theoretically , feared Him very vaguely , for she did not profess to understand His intentions or His will , having a very limited confidence in the priests , whom she regarded merely as the sons of peasants revolting from military service . Her father , a middle-class Parisian , never had imposed upon her any particular principles of devotion , and she had lived on thinking little about religious matters until her marriage . Then , her new station in life indicating more strictly her apparent duties toward the Church , she had conformed punctiliously to this light servitude , as do so many of her station . She was lady patroness to numerous and very well known infant asylums , never failed to attend mass at one o'clock on Sundays , gave alms for herself directly , and for the world by means of an abbe , the vicar of her parish . She had often prayed , from a sense of duty , as a soldier mounts guard at a general 's door . Sometimes she had prayed because her heart was sad , especially when she suspected Olivier of infidelity to her . At such times , without confiding to Heaven the cause for her appeal , treating God with the same naïve hypocrisy that is shown to a husband , she asked Him to succor her .