a quarter to seven
Self-confidence and belief in his future lighted up his forehead . He paid careful attention to his almost feminine hands , the filbert nails were a spotless pink , and the white contours of his chin were dazzling by contrast with a black satin stock . Never did a more beautiful youth come down from the hills of the Latin Quarter . Glorious as a Greek god , Lucien took a cab , and reached the Cafe Servel at a quarter to seven . There the portress gave him some tolerably complicated directions for the ascent of four pairs of stairs . Provided with these instructions , he discovered , not without difficulty , an open door at the end of a long , dark passage , and in another moment made the acquaintance of the traditional room of the Latin Quarter . A young man 's poverty follows him wherever he goes -- into the Rue de la Harpe as into the Rue de Cluny , into d'Arthez 's room , into Chrestien 's lodging ; yet everywhere no less the poverty has its own peculiar characteristics , due to the idiosyncrasies of the sufferer .