nine o'clock at night
What he did with these books , so numerous that no man 's lifetime would have been long enough to read them , nobody knew , least of all , himself . But this hobby of his amounted to monomania : when he came home at night without bringing a musty quarto with him , he would repeat the saying of Titus , `` I have lost a day . '' His enticing manners , his language , which was a mosaic of every possible style , and the fearful puns which embellished his conversation , completely won Schaunard , who demanded on the spot permission of Colline to add his name to those on the famous list already mentioned . They left Mother Cadet 's at nine o'clock at night , both fairly primed , and with the gait of men who have been engaged in close conversation with sundry bottles . Colline offered to stand coffee , and Schaunard accepted on condition that he should be allowed to pay for the accompanying nips of liquor . They turned into a cafe in the Rue Saint Germain l'Auxerrois , and bearing on its sign the name of Momus , god of play and pleasure . At the moment they entered a lively argument broke out between two of the frequenters of the place .