four o'clock in the evening
`` I think , my dear , that M. de Saint-Remy has not kept up any connection with -- Still , we can not but try . '' `` Unless M. d'Orbigny replies to you favourably , and I repeat , I do n't know why , but I have hopes , in spite of myself . '' `` It is now many days , my dear , since I wrote to him , telling him all the causes of our misfortunes , and yet to this time we have no reply , -- none . A letter put in the post before four o'clock in the evening reaches Aubiers next morning , and thus we might have had his answer five days ago . '' `` Perhaps , before he replies , he is considering in what way he can best be useful to us . '' `` May Heaven hear thee , my child ! '' `` It appears to me plain enough , mamma , if he could not do anything for us , he could have written at once , and said so . ''