five in the afternoon
What a dream was this to cherish ! A dream which a few bold spirits like Casimir Delavigne had actually realized . Thick swarming thoughts like these , and moments of belief in himself , followed by despair gave Lucien no rest , and kept him in the narrow way of toil and frugality , in spite of the smothered grumblings of more than one frenzied desire . Carrying prudence to an extreme , he made it a rule never to enter the precincts of the Palais Royal , that place of perdition where he had spent fifty francs at Very 's in a single day , and nearly five hundred francs on his clothes ; and when he yielded to temptation , and saw Fleury , Talma , the two Baptistes , or Michot , he went no further than the murky passage where theatre-goers used to stand in a string from half-past five in the afternoon till the hour when the doors opened , and belated comers were compelled to pay ten sous for a place near the ticket-office . And after waiting for two hours , the cry of `` All tickets are sold ! '' rang not unfrequently in the ears of disappointed students . When the play was over , Lucien went home with downcast eyes , through streets lined with living attractions , and perhaps fell in with one of those commonplace adventures which loom so large in a young and timorous imagination .