three o’clock
And old Mme. Rougon , overruled and furious at having been unable to make any preparation , was at last obliged to yield , in the necessity in which she found herself of leaving the matter to chance . `` Well , be it as you wish , then ! Good Heavens , how unfortunately things have turned out ! '' Martine hurried away to order the landau , and before three o'clock had struck the horses were on the Nice road , descending the declivity which slopes down to the bridge over the Viorne . Then they turned to the left , and followed the wooded banks of the river for about two miles . After this the road entered the gorges of the Seille , a narrow pass between two giant walls of rock scorched by the ardent rays of the summer sun . Pine trees pushed their way through the clefts ; clumps of trees , scarcely thicker at the roots than tufts of grass , fringed the crests and hung over the abyss .