Eight o’clock
When we passed into the parlour , the captain called attention to the bad condition of our andirons , and learnedly discoursed on the merits of rotten-stone as a brass-polisher . Not a word on the subject of politics . He was husbanding his forces . Eight o'clock sounded from the ruins of Carthage on the mantlepiece . It was Monsieur de Lessay 's hour . A few moments later he entered the parlour with his daughter . The ordinary evening chat began .