three o'clock to five
My dear , this seems to you , no doubt , very simple , but there are horrors behind it , all the same : in a fortnight I have probed the secrets of the house . My mother would accompany my father to Madrid if he would take M. de Canalis as a secretary to the embassy . But the King appoints the secretaries ; the Duke dare neither annoy the King , who hates to be opposed , nor vex my mother ; and the wily diplomat believes he has cut the knot by leaving the Duchess here . M. de Canalis , who is the great poet of the day , is the young man who cultivates my mother 's society , and who no doubt studies diplomacy with her from three o'clock to five . Diplomacy must be a fine subject , for he is as regular as a gambler on the Stock Exchange . The Duc de Rhetore , our elder brother , solemn , cold , and whimsical , would be extinguished by his father at Madrid , therefore he remains in Paris . Miss Griffith has found out also that Alphonse is in love with a ballet-girl at the Opera .