noon
The opening of the year with all its festivities sufficiently explained the absences of the financier . On the last occasion Birotteau got as far as the office of the banker , where the head-clerk , a German , told him that Monsieur de Nucingen had returned at five in the morning from a ball at the Kellers ' , and would not be visible until half-past nine o'clock . Birotteau had the luck to interest this man in his affairs , and remained talking with him more than half an hour . In the course of the afternoon this prime minister of the house of Nucingen wrote Birotteau that the baron would receive him the next day , 13th , at noon . Though every hour brought its drop of absinthe , the day went by with frightful rapidity . Cesar took a hackney coach , but stopped it several paces distant from the hotel , whose courtyard was crowded with carriages . The poor man 's heart sank within him when he saw the splendors of that noted house .