eight o'clock
`` There 's my friend -- he has seen us -- I must speak to him , or he will think I am doing wrong . Wait a minute ! '' And a dandy , with a monocle , was , indeed , casting very supercilious glances at the painter . At eight o'clock that evening , monsieur Tricotrin , with a prodigious appetite , sat in the Café du Bel Avenir , awaiting the arrival of his host . When impatience was mastering him , there arrived , instead , a petit bleu . The impecunious poet took it from the proprietress , paling , and read : `` I discovered my Ideal -- she ruined , and then deserted me ! To-morrow there will be a painter the less , and a petrole merchant the more .