half past one
And as he gazed into the green and azure depths beyond the north window , his dark brown eyes quivered and vibrated from side to side through his spectacles with a queer quick tremolo , such as I have never seen in any eyes but his . -LSB- Illustration : INSTITUTION F. BROSSARD -RSB- About five-and-twenty boys sat at their desks ; boys of all ages between seven and fourteen -- many with closely cropped hair , `` à la malcontent , '' like nice little innocent convicts ; and nearly all in blouses , mostly blue ; some with their garments loosely flowing ; others confined at the waist by a tricolored ceinture de gymnastique , so deep and stiff it almost amounted to stays . As for the boys themselves , some were energetic and industrious -- some listless and lazy and lolling , and quite languid with the heat -- some fidgety and restless , on the lookout for excitement of any kind : a cab or carriage raising the dust on its way to the Bois -- a water-cart laying it -LRB- there were no hydrants then -RRB- ; a courier bearing royal despatches , or a mounted orderly ; the Passy omnibus , to or fro every ten or twelve minutes ; the marchand de coco with his bell ; a regiment of the line with its band ; a chorus of peripatetic Orphéonistes -- a swallow , a butterfly , a humblebee ; a far-off balloon , oh , joy ! -- any sight or sound to relieve the tedium of those two mortal school-hours that dragged their weary lengths from half past one till half past three -- every day but Sunday and Thursday . -LRB- Even now I find the early afternoon a little trying to wear through without a nap , say from two to four . -RRB- At 3.30 there would come a half-hour 's interval of play , and then the class of French literature from four till dinner-time at six -- a class that was more than endurable on account of the liveliness and charm of Monsieur Durosier , who journeyed all the way from the Collége de France every Saturday afternoon in June and July to tell us boys of the quatrième all about Villon and Ronsard , and Marot and Charles d'Orléans -LRB- _ exceptis excipiendis _ , of course -RRB- , and other pleasant people who did n't deal in Greek or Latin or mathematics , and knew better than to trouble themselves overmuch about formal French grammar and niggling French prosody . Besides , everything was pleasant on a Saturday afternoon on account of the nearness of the day of days -- `` And that 's the day that comes between The Saturday and Monday '' ... .