five o'clock
The brain of a bird , in which four correct and healthy ideas could not exist side by side , and in which all dreams and every kind of folly are engulfed , like a great crevice . Incapable of hurting a fly , emotional , charitable , with a feeling of tenderness for the street girl who sold bunches of violets for a penny , for a cab horse , which a driver was ill using , for a melancholy pauper 's funeral , when the body , without friends or relations to follow it , was being conveyed to the common grave , doing anything that might afford five minutes ' amusement , not caring if she made men miserable for the rest of their days , and taking pleasure in kindling passions which consumed men 's whole being , looking upon life as too short to be anything else than one uninterrupted round of gaiety and enjoyment , she thought that people might find plenty of time for being serious and reasonable in the evening of life , when they are at the bottom of the hill , and their looking glass showed them a wrinkled face , surrounded with white hair . A thoroughbred Parisian , whom one would follow to the end of the world like a poodle ; a woman whom one adores with the head , the heart and the senses until one is nearly driven mad , as soon as one has inhaled the delicate perfume that emanates from her dress and hair , or touched her skin , and heard her laugh ; a woman for whom one would fight a duel and risk one 's life without a thought ; for whom a man would remove mountains , and sell his soul to the devil several times over , if the devil were still in the habit of frequenting the places of bad repute on this earth . She had perhaps come to see this Garrulier , whom she had so often heard mentioned at five o'clock tea , near , so as to be able to describe him to her female friends subsequently in droll phrases , to imitate his gestures and the unctuous inflections of his voice , perhaps , in order to experience some new sensation , or , perhaps , for the sake of dressing like a woman who was going to try for a divorce ; and , certainly , the whole effect was perfect . She wore a splendid cloak embroidered with jet , which gave an almost serious effect to her golden hair , to her small slightly turned up nose , with its quivering nostrils , and to her long eyes , full of enigmas and fun ; and a dark stuff dress , which was fastened at the neck by a sapphire and a diamond pin . The barrister did not interrupt her , but allowed her to get excited and to chatter , to enumerate her causes for complaint against poor Count de Baudémont , who certainly had no suspicion of his wife 's escapade , who would have been very much surprised if any one had told him of it at that moment , when he was taking his fencing lesson at the club . When she had quite finished , he said coolly , as if he were throwing a pail of water on some burning straw .