four in the afternoon
These two servants were , like herself , in keeping with the poverty of the house , that of the tenants , and the wild and tangled look of the garden . Both were children abandoned by their parents to whom the widow gave food for wages , -- and what food ! The lad , whom Godefroid caught a glimpse of , wore a ragged blouse and list slippers instead of shoes , and sabots when he went out . With his tousled head , looking like a sparrow when it takes a bath , and his black hands , he went to measure wood at a wood-yard on the boulevard as soon as he had finished the morning work of the house ; and after his day 's labor -LRB- which ends in wood-yards at half-past four in the afternoon -RRB- he returned to his domestic avocations . He went to the fountain of the Observatoire for the water used in the house , which the widow supplied to the tenants , together with bundles of kindling , sawed and tied up by him . Nepomucene , such was the name of the widow Vauthier 's slave , brought the daily journal to his mistress . In summer the poor forsaken lad was a waiter in the wine-shops at the barrier ; and then his mistress dressed him properly .