five o'clock in
the afternoon
An artiste , a true artiste ! '' It was a pleasure to listen to Caterna ; he was in steam , as the engineer says , and the only thing to do was to let him blow off . Surprising as it may seem , he adored his wife , and I believe she was equally fond of him . A well-matched couple , evidently , from what I learned from my comedian , never embarrassed , very wide awake , content with his lot , liking nothing so much as the theater -- above all the provincial theater -- where he and his wife had played in drama , vaudeville , comedy , operetta , opera comique , opera , spectacle , pantomime , happy in the entertainment which began at five o'clock in the afternoon and ended at one o'clock in the morning , in the grand theaters of the chief cities , in the saloon of the mayor , in the barn of the village , without boots , without patches , without orchestra , sometimes even without spectators -- thus saving the return of the money -- professionals fit for anything , no matter what . As a Parisian , Caterna must have been the wag of the forecastle when he was at sea . As clever with his instrument of brass or wood , he possessed a most varied and complete assortment of jokes , songs , monologues , and dialogues . This he told me with an immense amount of attitude and gesture , now here , now there , legs , arms , hands , and feet all going together .