a quarter to
five
Mademoiselle , by a second fit of idiotic smiling , having set at rest M. Godefroy 's doubts and fears on that essential point , he kissed his child , left the room hastily , and in the hall was enveloped in his fur coat by Charles , who also closed the carriage door . Then the faithful fellow went off to the café which he frequented , Rue de Miromesnil , where he had promised to meet the coachman of the baroness who lived opposite , to play a game of billiards , thirty up -- and spot-barred , of course . ***** Thanks to the brown bay -- for which a thousand francs over and above its value was paid by M. Godefroy as a result of a sumptuous snail supper given to that gentleman 's coachman by the horse-dealer -- thanks to the expensive brown bay which certainly went well , the financier was able to get through his many engagements satisfactorily . He appeared punctually at the Bourse , sat at several committee tables , and at a quarter to five , by voting with the ministry , he helped to reassure France and Europe that the rumors of a ministerial crisis had been totally unfounded . He voted with the ministry because he had succeeded in obtaining the favors which he demanded as the price of his vote . After he had thus nobly fulfilled his duty to himself and his country , M. Godefroy remembered what he had said to his child on the subject of Father Christmas , and gave his coachman the address of a dealer in toys . There he bought , and had put in his carriage , a fantastic rocking-horse , mounted on casters -- a whip in each ear ; a box of leaden soldiers -- all as exactly alike as those grenadiers of the Russian regiment of the time of Paul I , who all had black hair and snub noses ; and a score of other toys , all equally striking and costly .