two o’clock
Again , at other times , especially in the little archway leading to the chapel , he had surrendered himself to supple arms which raised him from the ground . All heaven had then been concerned in him , had moved round him , and imparted to his slightest actions a peculiar sense , an astonishing perfume , which seemed to cling faintly to his clothes , to his very skin . And again , he remembered the Thursday walks . They started at two o'clock for some verdant nook about three miles from Plassans . Often they sought a meadow on the banks of the Viorne , where the gnarled willows steeped their leaves in the stream . But he saw nothing -- neither the big yellow flowers in the meadow , nor the swallows sipping as they flew by , with wings lightly touching the surface of the little river . Till six o'clock , seated in groups beneath the willows , his comrades and himself recited the Office of the Virgin in common , or read in pairs the ` Little Hours , ' the book of prayers recommended to young seminarists , but not enjoined on them .