about six o'clock in the
evening
Bricks and planks . Men and wheelbarrows ... . Also he told us , one night , in his gentle , crazy , shrugging voice , that once upon a time he played the fiddle with a big woman in Alsace-Lorraine for fifty francs a night ; '' _ c'est la misère _ '' -- adding quietly , `` I can play well , I can play anything , I can play _ n'importe quoi _ . '' Which I suppose and guess I scarcely believed -- until one afternoon a man brought up a harmonica which he had purchased _ en ville _ ; and the man tried it ; and everyone tried it ; and it was perhaps the cheapest instrument and the poorest that money can buy , even in the fair country of France ; and everyone was disgusted -- but , about six o'clock in the evening , a voice came from behind the last experimenter ; a timid hasty voice : '' _ monsieur , monsieur , permettez ? _ '' the last experimenter turned and to his amazement saw Chaude Pisse the Pole , whom everyone had -LRB- of course -RRB- forgotten . The man tossed the harmonica on the table with a scornful look -LRB- a menacingly scornful look -RRB- at the object of universal execration ; and turned his back . Surplice , trembling from the summit of his filthy and beautiful head to the naked soles of his filthy and beautiful feet , covered the harmonica delicately and surely with one shaking paw ; seated himself with a surprisingly deliberate and graceful gesture ; closed his eyes , upon whose lashes there were big filthy tears ... and played ... ... and suddenly : He put the harmonica softly upon the table .