About four o’clock
`` Have a good dinner , Nanon ; my cousin will come down , '' said Eugenie . `` Something very extraordinary is going on , I am certain of it , '' said Madame Grandet . `` This is only the third time since our marriage that your father has given a dinner . '' * * * * * About four o'clock , just as Eugenie and her mother had finished setting the table for six persons , and after the master of the house had brought up a few bottles of the exquisite wine which provincials cherish with true affection , Charles came down into the hall . The young fellow was pale ; his gestures , the expression of his face , his glance , and the tones of his voice , all had a sadness which was full of grace . He was not pretending grief , he truly suffered ; and the veil of pain cast over his features gave him an interesting air dear to the heart of women . Eugenie loved him the more for it .