six P.M.
I went away with its sunshine in my heart . IT was two o'clock when I returned to my lodgings ; my dinner , just brought in from a neighbouring hotel , smoked on the table ; I sat down thinking to eat -- had the plate been heaped with potsherds and broken glass , instead of boiled beef and haricots , I could not have made a more signal failure : appetite had forsaken me . Impatient of seeing food which I could not taste , I put it all aside into a cupboard , and then demanded , `` What shall I do till evening ? '' for before six P.M. it would be vain to seek the Rue Notre Dame aux Neiges ; its inhabitant -LRB- for me it had but one -RRB- was detained by her vocation elsewhere . I walked in the streets of Brussels , and I walked in my own room from two o'clock till six ; never once in that space of time did I sit down . I was in my chamber when the last-named hour struck ; I had just bathed my face and feverish hands , and was standing near the glass ; my cheek was crimson , my eye was flame , still all my features looked quite settled and calm . Descending swiftly the stair and stepping out , I was glad to see Twilight drawing on in clouds ; such shade was to me like a grateful screen , and the chill of latter Autumn , breathing in a fitful wind from the north-west , met me as a refreshing coolness .