three o'clock
Madame Granson had gone the round of a dozen houses while the old maid was deliberating on the things she needed for the journey ; and the malicious Chevalier de Valois was playing piquet with Mademoiselle Armande , sister of a distinguished old marquis , and the queen of the salon of the aristocrats . If it was not uninteresting to any one to see what figure the seducer would cut that evening , it was all important for the chevalier and Madame Granson to know how Mademoiselle Cormon would take the news in her double capacity of marriageable woman and president of the Maternity Society . As for the innocent du Bousquier , he was taking a walk on the promenade , and beginning to suspect that Suzanne had tricked him ; this suspicion confirmed him in his principles as to women . On gala days the table was laid at Mademoiselle Cormon 's about half-past three o'clock . At that period the fashionable people of Alencon dined at four . Under the Empire they still dined as in former times at half-past two ; but then they supped ! One of the pleasures which Mademoiselle Cormon valued most was -LRB- without meaning any malice , although the fact certainly rests on egotism -RRB- the unspeakable satisfaction she derived from seeing herself dressed as mistress of the house to receive her guests .