a quarter to ten
`` All Guerande is turned upside down about Calyste 's passion for this amphibious creature , who is neither man nor woman , who smokes like an hussar , writes like a journalist , and has at this very moment in her house the most venomous of all writers , -- so the postmaster says , and he 's a _ juste-milieu _ man who reads the papers . They are even talking about her at Nantes . This morning the Kergarouet cousin who wants to marry Charlotte to a man with sixty thousand francs a year , went to see Mademoiselle de Pen-Hoel , and filled her mind with tales about Mademoiselle des Touches which lasted seven hours . It is now striking a quarter to ten , and Calyste is not home ; he is at Les Touches , -- perhaps he wo n't come in all night . '' The baroness listened to the rector , who was substituting monologue for dialogue unconsciously as he looked at this lamb of his fold , on whose face could be read her anxiety . She colored and trembled . When the worthy man saw the tears in the beautiful eyes of the mother , he was moved to compassion .