nearly ten o'clock
With much the expression of a whipped hound in the tiny sunken eyes which lighted up his bloated face , he was incessantly watching the widow in mute adoration before her masculine features and stubby hair . For fear that he might be dismissed , he put up with the presence of the other gentlemen of the divan and spent his pay in the place down to the last copper . A sergeant reviewed the situation in one sentence : `` Petticoat Burle is done for ; he 's a buried man ! '' It was nearly ten o'clock when Major Laguitte furiously flung the door of the cafe open . For a moment those inside could see the deluged square transformed into a dark sea of liquid mud , bubbling under the terrible downpour . The major , now soaked to the skin and leaving a stream behind him , strode up to the small counter where Phrosine was reading a novel . `` You little wretch , '' he yelled , `` you have dared to gammon an officer ; you deserve -- '' And then he lifted his hand as if to deal a blow such as would have felled an ox .