midday
`` Nobody will take any notice of him now , in any case . '' `` You are quite right , '' said Wilhelm , and let the dog come in . The fiacre moved off , and Auguste looked after it for a long time , as he whistled the latest popular air . It wanted but little to midday when Wilhelm came out of a hotel on the Neuer Jungfernstieg in Hamburg , and made his way toward the Alster , Fido trotting behind him , whose coat , for want of its accustomed daily washing and brushing , looked sadly neglected . The sky was thickly overcast , the air unusually mild , on account of the prevailing west wind , and the pavement of the Jungfernstieg damp and muddy . A thin veil of yellow fog lay over the Binnen Alster , giving the objects far and near the indefinite , wavering appearance of a mirage . Above the dark masses of houses to the right rose four sharp spires , from the points of which , smoke-wreaths seemed to rise and trail away .