midday
He sat down beside the fire , for May in the mountains is cold ; he held his empty pipe in his mouth , his rough forehead knitted , and he and the Cat looked at each other across that impassable barrier of silence which has been set between man and beast from the creation of the world . MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN . Side by side , on the avenue de la Grande Armée , stand the épicerie of Jean-Baptiste Caille and the salle de coiffure of Hippolyte Sergeot , and between these two there is a great gulf fixed , the which has come to be through the acerbity of Alexandrine Caille -LRB- according to Espérance Sergeot -RRB- , though the duplicity of Espérance Sergeot -LRB- according to Alexandrine Caille -RRB- . But the veritable root of all evil is Zut , and Zut sits smiling in Jean-Baptiste 's doorway , and cares naught for anything in the world , save the sunlight and her midday meal . When Hippolyte found himself in a position to purchase the salle de coiffure , he gave evidence of marked acumen by uniting himself in the holy -- and civil -- bonds of matrimony with the retiring patron 's daughter , whose dot ran into the coveted five figures , and whose heart , said Hippolyte , was as good as her face was pretty , which , even by the unprejudiced , was acknowledged to be forcible commendation . The installation of the new establishment was a nine days ' wonder in the quartier . It is a busy thoroughfare at its western end , is the avenue de la Grande Armée , crowded with bicyclists and with a multitude of creatures fearfully and wonderfully clad , who do incomprehensible things in connection with motor-carriages .