four in the afternoon
The Descoings read nothing ; she was struck down as by a thunderbolt . At the change in her face , at the cry she gave , old Desroches and Joseph carried her to her bed . Agathe went for a doctor . The poor woman was seized with apoplexy , and she only recovered consciousness at four in the afternoon ; old Haudry , her doctor , then said that , in spite of this improvement , she ought to settle her worldly affairs and think of her salvation . She herself only uttered two words : -- `` Three millions ! '' Old Desroches , informed by Joseph , with due reservations , of the state of things , related many instances where lottery-players had seen a fortune escape them on the very day when , by some fatality , they had forgotten to pay their stakes ; but he thoroughly understood that such a blow might be fatal when it came after twenty years ' perseverance . About five o'clock , as a deep silence reigned in the little _ appartement _ , and the sick woman , watched by Joseph and his mother , the one sitting at the foot , the other at the head of her bed , was expecting her grandson Bixiou , whom Desroches had gone to fetch , the sound of Philippe 's step and cane resounded on the staircase .