noon
With that the cashier raised his formidable loaded cane , one of the defenders of Germainicus , and walked off , leaving Lucien in the street , as much bewildered by this picture of the newspaper world as he had formerly been by the practical aspects of literature at Messrs. Vidal and Porchon 's establishment . Ten several times did Lucien repair to the Rue Feydeau in search of Andoche Finot , and ten times he failed to find that gentleman . He went first thing in the morning ; Finot had not come in . At noon , Finot had gone out ; he was breakfasting at such and such a cafe . At the cafe , in answer to inquiries of the waitress , made after surmounting unspeakable repugnance , Lucien heard that Finot had just left the place . Lucien , at length tired out , began to regard Finot as a mythical and fabulous character ; it appeared simpler to waylay Etienne Lousteau at Flicoteaux 's . That youthful journalist would , doubtless , explain the mysteries that enveloped the paper for which he wrote .