three o'clock in the afternoon
Threats , prayers , insults , the withholding of gratuities , were without effect . Père Rateau took off his cap , scratched his head , promised , in the tone of a man much moved , to mend his ways , and next day came later than ever . `` What a nuisance ! '' thought Durtal today , as he heard a key turning in the lock , then he looked at his watch and observed that once again the concierge was arriving after three o'clock in the afternoon . There was nothing for it but to submit with a sigh to the ensuing hullabaloo . Rateau , somnolent and pacific in his lodge , became a demon when he got a broom in his hand . In this sedentary being , who could drowse all morning in the stale basement atmosphere heavy with the cumulative aroma of many meat-stews , a martial ardour , a warlike ferocity , then asserted themselves , and like a red revolutionary he assaulted the bed , charged the chairs , manhandled the picture frames , knocked the tables over , rattled the water pitcher , and whirled Durtal 's brogues about by the laces as when a pillaging conqueror hauls a ravished victim along by the hair .