three o'clock in the afternoon
`` The Chaste Suzannah or the whole Sacred History we shall put into vaudeville , if you exact it . Until to-morrow , then . '' `` Until to-morrow . '' It was three o'clock in the afternoon ; the drawing-room of the Chateau de Bergenheim presented its usual aspect and occupants . The fire on the hearth , lighted during the morning , was slowly dying , and a beautiful autumn sun threw its rays upon the floor through the half-opened windows . Mademoiselle de Corandeuil , stretched on the couch before the fireplace with Constance at her feet , was reading , according to her habit , the newspapers which had just arrived . Madame de Bergenheim seemed very busily occupied with a piece of tapestry in her lap ; but the slow manner in which her needle moved , and the singular mistakes she made , showed that her mind was far away from the flowers she was working .