about seven o’clock
So some readers will understand why the painter mounted the stairs to the fourth floor but slowly , and will be in the secret of the throbs that followed each other so rapidly in his heart at the moment when he saw the humble brown door of the rooms inhabited by Mademoiselle Leseigneur . This girl , whose name was not the same as her mother 's , had aroused the young painter 's deepest sympathies ; he chose to fancy some similarity between himself and her as to their position , and attributed to her misfortunes of birth akin to his own . All the time he worked Hippolyte gave himself very willingly to thoughts of love , and made a great deal of noise to compel the two ladies to think of him , as he was thinking of them . He stayed late at the studio and dined there ; then , at about seven o'clock , he went down to call on his neighbors . No painter of manners has ventured to initiate us -- perhaps out of modesty -- into the really curious privacy of certain Parisian existences , into the secret of the dwellings whence emerge such fresh and elegant toilets , such brilliant women , who rich on the surface , allow the signs of very doubtful comfort to peep out in every part of their home . If , here , the picture is too boldly drawn , if you find it tedious in places , do not blame the description , which is , indeed , part and parcel of my story ; for the appearance of the rooms inhabited by his two neighbors had a great influence on the feelings and hopes of Hippolyte Schinner . The house belonged to one of those proprietors in whom there is a foregone and profound horror of repairs and decoration , one of the men who regard their position as Paris house-owners as a business .