twelve o'clock
He lifted his Panama hat with studied elegance , and turning down a break-neck , side alley , called , over his shoulder : -- '' _ Abientôt très chère madame . _ '' Unpunctuality could not be cited as among Madame de Vallorbes ' offenses . Yet , on the morning in question , she was certainly very late for the twelve o'clock breakfast . Richard Calmady -- awaiting her coming beneath the glistering dome of the airy pavilion , set in the angle of the terminal wall of the high-lying garden -- had time to become conscious of slight irritation . It was not merely that he was constitutionally impatient of delay , but that his nerves were tiresomely on edge just now . Trifles had power to endanger his somewhat stoic equanimity .