seven o’clock in the morning
It would be impossible to give an idea of the old , rotten , shaky , cranky , worm-eaten , halt , maimed , one-eyed , rickety , and ramshackle condition of the furniture without an exhaustive description , which would delay the progress of the story to an extent that impatient people would not pardon . The red tiles of the floor are full of depressions brought about by scouring and periodical renewings of color . In short , there is no illusory grace left to the poverty that reigns here ; it is dire , parsimonious , concentrated , threadbare poverty ; as yet it has not sunk into the mire , it is only splashed by it , and though not in rags as yet , its clothing is ready to drop to pieces . This apartment is in all its glory at seven o'clock in the morning , when Mme. Vauquer 's cat appears , announcing the near approach of his mistress , and jumps upon the sideboards to sniff at the milk in the bowls , each protected by a plate , while he purrs his morning greeting to the world . A moment later the widow shows her face ; she is tricked out in a net cap attached to a false front set on awry , and shuffles into the room in her slipshod fashion . She is an oldish woman , with a bloated countenance , and a nose like a parrot 's beak set in the middle of it ; her fat little hands -LRB- she is as sleek as a church rat -RRB- and her shapeless , slouching figure are in keeping with the room that reeks of misfortune , where hope is reduced to speculate for the meanest stakes . Mme. Vauquer alone can breathe that tainted air without being disheartened by it .