about three o'clock in the
afternoon
And the careful housekeeper , to whom some one came every moment and seized her keys to get spare linen or silverware , to open another room , thinking of the throwing open of her stores of treasures , of the plundering of her wardrobes and her sideboards , remembering the condition in which the visit of the former bey had left the château , devastated as by a cyclone , said in her patois , feverishly moistening the thread of her distaff : `` May God 's fire devour all beys and all future beys ! '' At last the day arrived , the famous day of which people still talk throughout the whole province . Oh ! about three o'clock in the afternoon , after a sumptuous breakfast presided over by the old mother with a new Cambrai cap on her head , -- a breakfast at which , side by side with Parisian celebrities , prefects were present and deputies , all in full dress , with swords at their sides , mayors in their scarfs of office , honest curés cleanly shaven , -- when Jansoulet , in black coat and white cravat , surrounded by his guests , went out upon the stoop and saw , framed in that magnificent landscape , amid flags and arches and ensigns , that swarm of heads , that sea of brilliant costumes rising tier above tier on the slopes and thronging the paths ; here , grouped in a nosegay on the lawn , the prettiest girls of Arles , whose little white faces peeped sweetly forth from lace neckerchiefs ; below , the _ farandole _ from Barbantane , its eight tambourines in a line , ready for the word , hand in hand , ribbons fluttering in the wind , hats over one ear , the red _ taillote _ about the loins ; still lower , in the succession of terraces , the choral societies drawn up in line , all black beneath their bright-hued caps , the banner-bearer in advance , serious and resolved , with clenched teeth , holding aloft his carved staff ; lower still , on an immense _ rond-point _ , black bulls in shackles , and Camargue gauchos on their little horses with long white manes , their leggings above their knees , brandishing their spears ; and after them more flags and helmets and bayonets , reaching to the triumphal arch at the entrance ; then , as far as the eye could see on the other side of the Rhone , -- over which two gangs of workmen had just thrown a bridge of boats , so that they could drive from the station to Saint-Romans in a straight line , -- was an immense crowd , whole villages pouring down from all the hills , overflowing on the Giffas road in a wilderness of noise and dust , seated on the edge of the ditches , swarming among the elms , piled upon wagons , a formidable living lane for the procession to pass through ; and over it all a huge white sun whose arrows a capricious breeze sent in every direction , from the copper of a tambourine to the point of a spear and the fringe of a banner , while the mighty Rhone , high-spirited and free , bore away to the ocean the shifting tableaux of that royal fête . In presence of those marvels , in which all the gold in his coffers shone resplendent , the Nabob felt a thrill of admiration and pride . `` It is fine , '' he said , turning pale , and his mother , standing behind him , as pale as he , but from indescribable terror , murmured : `` It is too fine for any man . One would think that God was coming . ''