eight o’clock
`` It is I who am sorry , '' said Miss Lavish `` literary hacks are shameless creatures . I believe there 's no secret of the human heart into which we would n't pry . '' She marched cheerfully to the fountain and back , and did a few calculations in realism . Then she said that she had been in the Piazza since eight o'clock collecting material . A good deal of it was unsuitable , but of course one always had to adapt . The two men had quarrelled over a five-franc note . For the five-franc note she should substitute a young lady , which would raise the tone of the tragedy , and at the same time furnish an excellent plot .