four
o’clock
He goes always straight before him , takes his patriotism ready made from the newspaper , contradicts no one , shouts or applauds with the world , and lives like a bird . Two yards from his parish , in the event of an important ceremony , he can yield his place to an assistant , and betake himself to chant a requiem from a stall in the church of which on Sundays he is the fairest ornament , where his is the most imposing voice , where he distorts his huge mouth with energy to thunder out a joyous _ Amen _ . So is he chorister . At four o'clock , freed from his official servitude , he reappears to shed joy and gaiety upon the most famous shop in the city . Happy is his wife , he has no time to be jealous : he is a man of action rather than of sentiment . His mere arrival spurs the young ladies at the counter ; their bright eyes storm the customers ; he expands in the midst of all the finery , the lace and muslin kerchiefs , that their cunning hands have wrought . Or , again , more often still , before his dinner he waits on a client , copies the page of a newspaper , or carries to the doorkeeper some goods that have been delayed .