three o'clock
She was quite the thing , whatever they might say ! And when the others accused him of sleeping with her he laughed fatuously , thereby driving the cook to distraction , for she would have liked to be a man in order to `` spit on such women 's backsides , '' so utterly would they have disgusted her . Francois , without informing Madame of it , had wickedly posted the baker in the hall , and when she came downstairs at lunch time she found herself face to face with him . Taking the bill , she told him to return toward three o'clock , whereupon , with many foul expressions , he departed , vowing that he would have things properly settled and get his money by hook or by crook . Nana made a very bad lunch , for the scene had annoyed her . Next time the man would have to be definitely got rid of . A dozen times she had put his money aside for him , but it had as constantly melted away , sometimes in the purchase of flowers , at others in the shape of a subscription got up for the benefit of an old gendarme .