Ten o'clock
But shortly before ten o'clock another gentleman , a tall , good-looking , fair man with well-fitting gloves , was also walking up and down in front of the stage door . Thereupon at each successive turn the pair treated each other to a suspicious sidelong glance . The count walked to the corner of the two galleries , which was adorned with a high mirror , and when he saw himself therein , looking grave and elegant , he was both ashamed and nervous . Ten o'clock struck , and suddenly it occurred to Muffat that it would be very easy to find out whether Nana were in her dressing room or not . He went up the three steps , crossed the little yellow-painted lobby and slipped into the court by a door which simply shut with a latch . At that hour of the night the narrow , damp well of a court , with its pestiferous water closets , its fountain , its back view of the kitchen stove and the collection of plants with which the portress used to litter the place , was drenched in dark mist ; but the two walls , rising pierced with windows on either hand , were flaming with light , since the property room and the firemen 's office were situated on the ground floor , with the managerial bureau on the left , and on the right and upstairs the dressing rooms of the company . The mouths of furnaces seemed to be opening on the outer darkness from top to bottom of this well .