five o’clock
`` Well , there is no damning a devil , '' retorted Lousteau . The flippant tone , the brilliant talk of this new friend , his views of life , his paradoxes , the axioms of Parisian Machiavelism , -- all these things impressed Lucien unawares . Theoretically the poet knew that such thoughts were perilous ; but he believed them practically useful . Arrived in the Boulevard du Temple , the friends agreed to meet at the office between four and five o'clock . Hector Merlin would doubtless be there . Lousteau was right . The infatuation of desire was upon Lucien ; for the courtesan who loves knows how to grapple her lover to her by every weakness in his nature , fashioning herself with incredible flexibility to his every wish , encouraging the soft , effeminate habits which strengthen her hold .