nearly five o'clock
When they arrived at the Moktowski barracks , a group of officers quickly surrounded them and conducted them to a place where champagne corks might pop and cigarettes be lighted . This was but the beginning of a round of visits which Alban found tiresome to the last degree . How many glasses of wine he sipped , how many cigarettes he lighted , he could not have told you for a fortune . It was nearly five o'clock when they returned to the hotel and the Count proposed an hour 's repose `` de travail . '' `` There is no message from your friend , '' he said candidly , `` no doubt your telegram has troubled him . Perhaps we shall get it by dinner-time . You must be very tired and perhaps you would like to lie down . ''