about three o’clock
The door was crowned by a closed arch , of which the keystone bore a female head and some time-eaten arabesques . Three windows , their sills about five feet from the ground , belonged to a small set of rooms looking out on the Rue du Tourniquet , whence they derived their light . These windows were protected by strong iron bars , very wide apart , and ending below in an outward curve like the bars of a baker 's window . If any passer-by during the day were curious enough to peep into the two rooms forming this little dwelling , he could see nothing ; for only under the sun of July could he discern , in the second room , two beds hung with green serge , placed side by side under the paneling of an old-fashioned alcove ; but in the afternoon , by about three o'clock , when the candles were lighted , through the pane of the first room an old woman might be seen sitting on a stool by the fireplace , where she nursed the fire in a brazier , to simmer a stew , such as porters ' wives are expert in . A few kitchen utensils , hung up against the wall , were visible in the twilight . At that hour an old table on trestles , but bare of linen , was laid with pewter-spoons , and the dish concocted by the old woman . Three wretched chairs were all the furniture of this room , which was at once the kitchen and the dining-room .