nearly three o'clock
`` Excuse me , '' hastily resumed Cazaban , `` my boarders want me . '' And thereupon he rushed away , his hands still greasy through fingering the comb . The door remained open for a second , and on the walls of the dining-room Pierre espied various religious prints , and notably a view of the Grotto , which surprised him ; in all probability , however , the hairdresser only hung these engravings there during the pilgrimage season by way of pleasing his boarders . It was now nearly three o'clock . When the young priest and M. de Guersaint got outside they were astonished at the loud pealing of bells which was flying through the air . The parish church had responded to the first stroke of vespers chiming at the Basilica ; and now all the convents , one after another , were contributing to the swelling peals . The crystalline notes of the bell of the Carmelites mingled with the grave notes of the bell of the Immaculate Conception ; and all the joyous bells of the Sisters of Nevers and the Dominicans were jingling together .