the afternoon, about three o'clock
The lawyer gave Rosalie detailed instructions which the servant made him repeat two or three times ; then , when she was sure she knew exactly what to do , she said : `` Do n't you fear ; I 'll see it 's all right now . '' And she started for Paris that very night . Jeanne passed two days in such an agony of mind that she could fix her thoughts on nothing . The third morning she received a line from Rosalie merely saying she was coming back by that evening 's train ; nothing more ; and in the afternoon , about three o'clock , Jeanne sent round to a neighbor to ask him if he would drive her to the Beuzeville railway station to meet her servant . She stood on the platform looking down the rails -LRB- which seemed to get closer together right away as far off as she could see -RRB- , and turning every now and then to look at the clock . Ten minutes more -- five minutes -- two -- and at last the train was due , though as yet she could see no signs of it . Then , all at once , she saw a cloud of white smoke , and underneath it a black speck which got rapidly larger and larger .