five
o’clock
`` If you do , I 'll make you swallow your tongue , -- and without any sauce . '' Every household in town offered prayers for the honorable Colonel Bridau . Towards four o'clock the following day , the officers of the old army who were at Issoudun or its environs , were sauntering about the place du Marche , in front of an eating-house kept by a man named Lacroix , and waiting the arrival of Colonel Philippe Bridau . The banquet in honor of the coronation was to take place with military punctuality at five o'clock . Various groups of persons were talking of Max 's discomfiture , and his dismissal from old Rouget 's house ; for not only were the officers to dine at Lacroix 's , but the common soldiers had determined on a meeting at a neighboring wine-shop . Among the officers , Potel and Renard were the only ones who attempted to defend Max . `` Is it any of our business what takes place among the old man 's heirs ? ''