eight o’clock
This was the hour at which he most regretted that Mrs. Alsager had not come back -- for he had called at her house only to learn that she was still at Torquay . This was probably queer , and it was probably queerer still that she had n't written to him ; but even of these things he was n't sure , for in losing , as he had now completely lost , his judgment of his play , he seemed to himself to have lost his judgment of everything . When he went home , however , he found a telegram from the lady of Grosvenor Place -- `` Shall be able to come -- reach town by seven . '' At half-past eight o'clock , through a little aperture in the curtain of the `` Renaissance , '' he saw her in her box with a cluster of friends -- completely beautiful and beneficent . The house was magnificent -- too good for his play , he felt ; too good for any play . Everything now seemed too good -- the scenery , the furniture , the dresses , the very programmes . He seized upon the idea that this was probably what was the matter with the representative of Nona -- she was only too good .