three o'clock
They passed through the waiting-room again , and as everyone looked at them , Forestier said to the youngest of the women , in a tone loud enough to be heard by the rest : `` The manager will see you directly . He is just now engaged with two members of the Budget Committee . '' Then he passed swiftly on , with an air of hurry and importance , as though about to draft at once an article of the utmost weight . As soon as they were back in the reporters ' room Forestier at once took up his cup and ball , and as he began to play with it again , said to Duroy , breaking his sentences in order to count : `` You will come here every day at three o'clock , and I will tell you the places you are to go to , either during the day or in the evening , or the next morning -- one -- I will give you , first of all , a letter of introduction to the head of the First Department of the Préfecture of Police -- two -- who will put you in communication with one of his clerks . You will settle with him about all the important information -- three -- from the Préfecture , official and quasi-official information , you know . In all matters of detail you will apply to Saint-Potin , who is up in the work -- four -- You can see him by-and-by , or to-morrow . You must , above all , cultivate the knack of dragging information out of men I send you to see -- five -- and to get in everywhere , in spite of closed doors -- six -- You will have for this a salary of two hundred francs a month , with two sous a line for the paragraphs you glean -- seven -- and two sous a line for all articles written by you to order on different subjects -- eight . ''