five in the morning
This rush of fictitious friendship , these empty testimonials of favor , are horrible to those who feel themselves drawn down into the vortex of misfortune . Birotteau presented himself three times at the hotel of the famous banker , the Baron de Nucingen , but in vain . The opening of the year with all its festivities sufficiently explained the absences of the financier . On the last occasion Birotteau got as far as the office of the banker , where the head-clerk , a German , told him that Monsieur de Nucingen had returned at five in the morning from a ball at the Kellers ' , and would not be visible until half-past nine o'clock . Birotteau had the luck to interest this man in his affairs , and remained talking with him more than half an hour . In the course of the afternoon this prime minister of the house of Nucingen wrote Birotteau that the baron would receive him the next day , 13th , at noon . Though every hour brought its drop of absinthe , the day went by with frightful rapidity .