noon
he spluttered . `` I 'll square accounts with you , Lanyard , if I have to follow you to the gates of hell ! '' `` Better not , '' Lanyard warned him fairly , `` if you do , I 'll push you in ... Bon soir , monsieur le prince ! '' She sat all day long -- from noon , that is , till late at night -- on a high stool behind the tall , pulpit-like desk of the caisse ; flanked on one hand by the swing door of green baize which communicated with the kitchen , on the other by a hideous black walnut buffet on which fruits of the season were displayed , more or less temptingly , to the taste of Mama Thérèse . But for these articles of furniture , the buffet , the desk , and the door to the kitchen quarters , uninterrupted rows of tables , square , with composition-marble tops , lined three walls of the room . The fourth was mainly plate-glass window , one on either side of the main entrance . Back of the tables were wall-seats upholstered in red plush , dusty and threadbare ; and , above , a frieze of mirrors .