eight o'clock
` It 's just a year since I met you , ' I whispered timidly . Our mouths met again , and , so enlocked , we rested , savouring the true savour of life . And presently my hand stole up to his head and stroked his curls . Every morning he began to practise at eight o'clock , and continued till eleven . The piano , a Steinway in a hundred Steinways , was in the further of the two drawing-rooms . He would go into the room smoking a cigarette , and when he had thrown away the cigarette I would leave him . And as soon as I had closed the door the first notes would resound , slow and solemn , of the five-finger exercises with which he invariably commenced his studies .