five o’clock
When she reached the butcher 's shop in front of the mayor 's office , she remembered a request of her mother 's ; and as is always the case with the poor , a trivial detail is mixed with the drama of life . Louise , without forgetting her thoughts , while sacrificing her own heart , went into the shop and picked out two breaded cutlets and had them done up in brown paper , for their evening 's repast . The day after his conversation with Louise , Amedee felt that distressing impatience that waiting causes nervous people . The day at the office seemed unending , and in order to escape solitude , at five o'clock he went to Maurice 's studio , where he had not been for fifteen days . He found him alone , and the young artist also seemed preoccupied . While Amedee congratulated him upon a study placed upon an easel , Maurice walked up and down the room with his hands in his pocket , and eyes upon the floor , making no reply to his friend 's compliments . Suddenly he stopped and looking at Amedee said : `` Have you seen the Gerard ladies during the past few days ? ''