noon
Others , who had failed to find even the tiniest place to sit down , leaned heavily on their parasols , sinking , but still obstinate . Every eye was turned anxiously and supplicatingly towards the settees laden with people . And all that those thousands of sight-seers were now conscious of , was that last fatigue of theirs , which made their legs totter , drew their features together , and tortured them with headache -- that headache peculiar to fine-art shows , which is caused by the constant straining of one 's neck and the blinding dance of colours . Alone on the little settee where at noon already they had been talking about their private affairs , the two decorated gentlemen were still chatting quietly , with their minds a hundred leagues away from the place . Perhaps they had returned thither , perhaps they had not even stirred from the spot . ` And so , ' said the fat one , ` you went in , pretending not to understand ? ' ` Quite so , ' replied the thin one .