a quarter to twelve
They were , in truth , commonplace . What to my backward glance seems startling and a little awful is their punctualness and inevitability . Mills was punctual . Exactly at a quarter to twelve he appeared under the lofty portal of the Hôtel de Louvre , with his fresh face , his ill-fitting grey suit , and enveloped in his own sympathetic atmosphere . How could I have avoided him ? To this day I have a shadowy conviction of his inherent distinction of mind and heart , far beyond any man I have ever met since . He was unavoidable : and of course I never tried to avoid him .