six o’clock
Since it was just that each man should bring his contribution to the common weal , create subsistence for himself and his offspring , why should not he , at the advent of each new child , supply a new field of fertile earth which would give that child food , without cost to the community ? That was his sole idea ; it took no more precise shape ; at the thought of realizing it he was carried off into splendid dreams . The Froments had been in the country fully a month when one evening Marianne , wheeling Gervais 's little carriage in front of her , came as far as the bridge over the Yeuse to await Mathieu , who had promised to return early . Indeed , he got there before six o'clock . And as the evening was fine , it occurred to Marianne to go as far as the Lepailleurs ' mill down the river , and buy some new-laid eggs there . `` I 'm willing , '' said Mathieu . `` I 'm very fond of their romantic old mill , you know ; though if it were mine I should pull it down and build another one with proper appliances . ''