eight o'clock
_ This _ is what I want to make me happy . Darling -- darling ! ... '' They sat on the shabby old leather lounge which papa had held fast to , by winter and by summer , for thirty years . Here they had sat down soon after eight o'clock , and now the soft-toned chimes in the hall had just sounded eleven-thirty . In the first days of their engagement , Carlisle had observed that Hugo was `` very demonstrative . '' And now , at the end of their loverly evening together , he became suddenly and strangely moved , professing , in a voice unlike his own , his inability to live longer without her . Then , ignoring all their elaborate plannings , he abruptly begged her to marry him in June , as he had first asked her ... `` Why , Hugo ! ''