midday
He saw more of Poons than he did of the others , for that young man had no regular engagement , but played now and then as substitute in one of the downtown theatre orchestras , so he just about managed to eke out an existence on a cash basis , and the three older men were as proud of this fact as if he were their own son . Von Barwig was strangely happy ; he took no interest whatever in his physical existence . His immediate surroundings , the people he saw , the food he ate , made no mental impression upon him . Life was a mechanical process , a routine existence to him till midday , when he would , to quote his own words , `` begin to live , '' that is , he would start uptown on his walk to Fifty-seventh Street . Rain or shine he would not ride , for the motion of riding on the bumpy stages interfered with the flow of his thoughts . `` Now begins my day , '' he would say to himself as he started on his journey to his pupil 's house , some four or five miles from Miss Husted 's establishment . The old man was happy ; happy in going , happy when there , happy when thinking that the next day he would see her again .