three
o'clock
`` We have hired a large , covered sampan , '' she says to change the conversation , `` and we are all going together -- Campanule , Jonquille , Touki , all your mousmes -- to watch your vessel set sail . Pray sit down and stay a few minutes . '' `` No , I really can not stay . I have several things to do in the town , you see , and the order was given for every one to be on board by three o'clock in time for muster before starting . Moreover , I would prefer to escape , as you can imagine , while Madame Prune is still enjoying her siesta ; I should be afraid of being drawn into some corner , or of provoking some heartrending parting scene . '' Chrysantheme bows her head and says no more , but seeing that I am really going , rises to escort me . Without speaking , without the slightest noise , she follows me as we descend the staircase and cross the garden full of sunshine , where the dwarf shrubs and the deformed flowers seem , like the rest of the household , plunged in warm somnolence .