four o’clock
The young poet was invaded by a sweet and overwhelming languor , and Maria 's face , which was commonly before his inner vision upon awakening , became confused and passed from his mind . He seated himself for a moment before a table and reread the last lines of a page that he had begun ; but he was immediately overcome by physical lassitude , and abandoned himself to thought , saying to himself that he was twenty years old , and that it would be very good , after all , to enjoy life . It is the first of May , and the lilacs in the Luxembourg Gardens are in blossom . It has just struck four o'clock . The bright sun and the pure sky have rendered more odious than ever the captivity of the office to Amedee , and he departs before the end of the sitting for a stroll in the Medicis garden around the pond , where , for the amusement of the children in that quarter , a little breeze from the northeast is pushing on a miniature flotilla . Suddenly he hears himself called by a voice which bursts out like a brass band at a country fair . `` Good-day , Violette . ''