three in the afternoon
`` Well , '' continued Monsieur Alain , smiling , `` when Mongenod found me a good friend he ceased to look as sad and anxious as when he entered ; in fact , he became quite gay . My housekeeper gave us some oysters , white wine , and an omelet , with broiled kidneys , and the remains of a pate my old mother had sent me ; also some dessert , coffee , and liqueur of the Iles . Mongenod , who had been starving for two days , was fed up . We were so interested in talking about our life before the Revolution that we sat at table till three in the afternoon . Mongenod told me how he had lost his fortune . In the first place , his father having invested the greater part of his capital in city loans , when they fell Mongenod lost two thirds of all he had . Then , having sold his house in the rue de Savoie , he was forced to receive the price in assignats .