eight o'clock
`` And does the writer of this letter live there ? '' `` I can not say . He writes from there -- that is enough for us . '' `` And he orders dinner for four -- here , in a private room overlooking the river , three months ahead -- punctually at eight o'clock , gives you a list of the things he wants , and even arranges the decoration of the table . Says he has never seen either of his three friends before ; that one of them hails from -LRB- here she consulted the letter again -RRB- Hang-chow , another from Bloemfontein , while the third resides , at present , in England . Each one is to present an ordinary visiting card with a red dot on it to the porter in the hall , and to be shown to the room at once . I do n't understand it at all . ''