eight o'clock
But the Confirmation was coming on , and _ Madame _ was in great embarrassment . She had no under mistress , and did not at all care to leave her house , even for a day , for all the rivalries between the girls upstairs and those downstairs , would infallibly break out ; no doubt Frederic would get drunk , and when he was in that state he would knock anybody down for a mere word . At last , however , she made up her mind to take them all with her , with the exception of the man , to whom she gave a holiday , until the next day but one . When she asked her brother , he made no objection , but undertook to put them all up for a night , and so on Saturday morning , the eight o'clock express carried off _ Madame _ and her companions in a second-class carriage . As far as Beuzeille , they were alone , and chattered like magpies , but at that station a couple got in . The man , an old peasant , dressed in a blue blouse with a folding collar , wide sleeves , tight at the wrist , and ornamented with white embroidery , wore an old high hat with long nap , held an enormous green umbrella in one hand , and a large basket in the other , from which the heads of three frightened ducks protruded . The woman , who sat stiffly in her rustic finery , had a face like a fowl , and with a nose that was as pointed as a bill .