two in the
afternoon
Will you take a cup of tea ? '' `` Willingly , '' replied Minard . `` Celeste , '' said the old maid , `` ring for Henri , and tell him to put the large kettle on the fire . '' Though the visit to the notary was not to be made till two in the afternoon , Brigitte began early in the morning of the next day what Thuillier called her _ rampage _ , a popular term which expresses that turbulent , nagging , irritating activity which La Fontaine has described so well in his fable of `` The Old Woman and her Servants . '' Brigitte declared that if you did n't take time by the forelock no one would be ready . She prevented Thuillier from going to his office , insisting that if he once got off she never should see him again ; she plagued Josephine , the cook , about hurrying the breakfast , and in spite of what had happened the day before she scarcely restrained herself from nagging at Madame Thuillier , who did not enter , as she thought she should have done , into her favorite maxim , `` Better be early than late . '' Presently down she went to the Collevilles ' to make the same disturbance ; and there she put her veto on the costume , far too elegant , which Flavie meditated wearing , and told Celeste the hat and gown she wished her to appear in .