midday
`` Idiot ! '' muttered Marzio between his teeth , not deigning to make any further answer . The distant boom of a gun broke upon the silence that followed , and immediately the bells of all the neighbouring churches rang out in quick succession . It was midday . `` I did not expect to finish that nose , '' said Marzio , rising from his stool . He was a punctual man , who exacted punctuality in others , and in spite of his thin frame and nervous ways , he loved his dinner . In five minutes all the men had left the workshop , and Marzio and his apprentice stood in the street , the former locking the heavy door with a lettered padlock , while the younger man sniffed the fresh spring air that blew from the west out of the square of San Carlo a Catenari down the Via dei Falegnami in which the establishment of the silver-chiseller was situated .