about one o'clock
Time -- the mere knowledge of unbroken hours ahead -- is a boon which real love can not do without . Minor feelings may flourish on snatched interviews and stolen meetings , but love demands -- and usually gets -- protected leisure . The next day these lovers had it . They spent the morning , when Mr. Cord was known to be playing golf , at the Cords ' house , and then when Mr. Cord telephoned that he was staying to luncheon at the club , if Crystal did not object -LRB- and Crystal did not -RRB- , she and Ben arranged a picnic -- at least Tomes did , and they went off about one o'clock in the blue car . They went to a pool in the rocks that Crystal had always known about , with high walls around it , and here , with a curtain of foam between them and the sea , for the waves were rising , they ate lunch , as much alone as on a desert island . It was here that Ben asked her to marry him , or , to be accurate , it was here that they first began talking about their life together , and whether Nora would become reconciled to another woman about the flat . The nearest approach to a definite proposal was Ben 's saying : `` You would not mind my saying something about all this to your father before I go this evening , would you ? ''