Nine o'clock in the morning
It is well known that the Rue Clovis is one of the most solitary streets in the Montagne St. Genevieve district . At the epoch of this narrative , the house No. 4 , in this street , was composed of one principal building , through which ran a dark passage , leading to a little , gloomy court , at the end of which was a second building , in a singularly miserable and dilapidated condition . On the ground-floor , in front of the house , was a half-subterraneous shop , in which was sold charcoal , fagots , vegetables , and milk . Nine o'clock in the morning had just struck . The mistress of the shop , one Mother Arsene , an old woman of a mild , sickly countenance , clad in a brown stuff dress , with a red bandanna round her head , was mounted on the top step of the stairs which led down to her door , and was employed in setting out her goods -- that is , on one side of her door she placed a tin milk-can , and on the other some bunches of stale vegetables , flanked with yellowed cabbages . At the bottom of the steps , in the shadowy depths of the cellar , one could see the light of the burning charcoal in a little stove . This shop situated at the side of the passage , served as a porter 's lodge , and the old woman acted as portress .