seven in the afternoon
Her eyes were almost black and her mouth full , with a little shadow of a mustache . Her figure was still very pretty , although , if the truth were known , she had probably passed her thirtieth year ; and she had a soft little hand , with which she wrote elegant figures in her cash-book , and now and then a little note . Madame Virginie could converse with the young dandies who were always hanging about the buffet , and parry their witticisms , while she kept account with the waiters and had her eye upon every corner of the great room . She was really pretty only from five till seven in the afternoon -- that being the time at which Alphonse invariably visited the café . Then her eyes never left him ; she got a fresher color , her mouth was always trembling into a smile , and her movements became somewhat nervous . That was the only time of the day when she was ever known to give a random answer or to make a mistake in the accounts ; and the waiters tittered and nudged each other . For it was generally thought that she had formerly had relations with Alphonse , and some would even have it that she was still his mistress .