five o’clock
In 1810 Madame Cesar , foreseeing a rise in rents , pushed her husband into becoming chief tenant of the house where they had hitherto occupied only the shop and the _ entresol _ , and advised him to remove their own appartement to the first floor . A fortunate event induced Constance to shut her eyes to the follies which Birotteau committed for her sake in fitting up the new appartement . The perfumer had just been elected judge in the commercial courts : his integrity , his well-known sense of honor , and the respect he enjoyed , earned for him this dignity , which ranked him henceforth among the leading merchants of Paris . To improve his knowledge , he rose daily at five o'clock , and read law-reports and books treating of commercial litigation . His sense of justice , his rectitude , his conscientious intentions , -- qualities essential to the understanding of questions submitted for consular decision , -- soon made him highly esteemed among the judges . His defects contributed not a little to his reputation . Conscious of his inferiority , Cesar subordinated his own views to those of his colleagues , who were flattered in being thus deferred to .