About ten o'clock
Ian Belward was at his best : genial , entertaining , with the art of the man of no principles , no convictions , and a keen sense of life 's sublime incongruities . Even Jacques , whose sense of humour had grown by long association with Gaston , enjoyed the piquant conversation . The next evening the same . About ten o'clock a few men dropped in : a sculptor , artists , and Meyerbeer , an American newspaper correspondent -- who , however , was not known as such to Gaston . This evening Ian determined to make Gaston talk . To deepen a man 's love for a thing , get him to talk of it to the eager listener -- he passes from the narrator to the advocate unconsciously . Gaston was not to talk of England , but of the North , of Canada , of Mexico , the Lotos Isles .