ten o'clock
He had repeated to himself in a whisper , just as a little boy repeats a prayer , this name and address , a countless number of times , so that he might not forget them , and he ended by lisping them continually , without being able to stop or to think of what it was , so much were his tongue and his mind possessed by the appellation . According , on the following day , about eight o'clock , he ordered Graindorge to be yoked to the tilbury , and set forth , at the quick trotting pace of the heavy Norman horse , along the high road from the Ainville to Rouen . He wore his black frock coat drawn over his shoulders , a tall silk hat on his head , and on his legs his breeches with straps ; and he did not wish , on account of the occasion , to dispense with the handsome costume , the blue overall which swelled in the wind , protected the cloth from dust and from stains , and which was to be removed quickly on reaching his destination the moment he had jumped out of the coach . He entered Rouen accordingly just as it was striking ten o'clock , drew up , as he had usually done at the Hotel des Bon-Enfants , in the Rue des Trois-Mares , submitted to the hugs of the landlord and his wife and their five children , for they had heard the melancholy news ; after that , he had to tell them all the particulars about the accident , which caused him to shed tears , to repel all the proffered attentions which they sought to thrust upon him merely because he was wealthy , and to decline even the breakfast they wanted him to partake of , thus wounding their sensibilities . Then , having wiped the dust off his hat , brushed his coat and removed the mud stains from his boots , he set forth in search of the Rue de l'Eperlan , without venturing to make inquiries from anyone , for fear of being recognized and arousing suspicions . At length , being unable to find the place , he saw a priest passing by , and , trusting to the professional discretion which churchmen possess , he questioned the ecclesiastic . He had only a hundred steps farther to go ; it was exactly the second street to the right .