five o’clock until half past nine
willingly , '' said Joseph , `` I know I have a perfectly amazing incapacity for domestic statesmanship : for example , I am sure I do n't know what Desroches himself would tell us to do if my uncle declines to see us . '' Mesdames Borniche , Goddet-Herau , Beaussier , Lousteau-Prangin and Fichet , decorated with their husbands , here entered the room . When the fourteen persons were seated , and the usual compliments were over , Madame Hochon presented her goddaughter Agathe and Joseph . Joseph sat in his armchair all the evening , engaged in slyly studying the sixty faces which , from five o'clock until half past nine , posed for him gratis , as he afterwards told his mother . Such behavior before the aristocracy of Issoudun did not tend to change the opinion of the little town concerning him : every one went home ruffled by his sarcastic glances , uneasy under his smiles , and even frightened at his face , which seemed sinister to a class of people unable to recognize the singularities of genius . After ten o'clock , when the household was in bed , Madame Hochon kept her goddaughter in her chamber until midnight . Secure from interruption , the two women told each other the sorrows of their lives , and exchanged their sufferings .