four
o’clock
On New-Year 's day he went round and left his own cards on all the clerks of the division . Bixiou took it into his head on one of the hottest of dog-days to put a layer of lard under the lining of a certain old hat which Poiret junior -LRB- he was , by the bye , fifty-two years old -RRB- had worn for the last nine years . Bixiou , who had never seen any other hat on Poiret 's head , dreamed of it and declared he tasted it in his food ; he therefore resolved , in the interests of his digestion , to relieve the bureau of the sight of that amorphous old hat . Poiret junior left the office regularly at four o'clock . As he walked along , the sun 's rays reflected from the pavements and walls produced a tropical heat ; he felt that his head was inundated , -- he , who never perspired ! Feeling that he was ill , or on the point of being so , instead of going as usual to the Sucking Calf he went home , drew out from his desk the journal of his life , and recorded the fact in the following manner : -- `` To-day , July 3 , 1823 , overtaken by extraordinary perspiration , a sign , perhaps , of the sweating-sickness , a malady which prevails in Champagne . I am about to consult Doctor Haudry .