eight
o'clock
It hovered about him ; it tipped him , as it were , with its wings ; then it rose again and soared away . Men like him -- men keen to grasp an opening where their careers are concerned , and tenacious to hold it when once grasped -- are frequently the last to look into their own hearts . He glanced at Eve , he acknowledged the stir of his feeling , but he made no attempt to define its cause . He could no more have given reason for his sensations than he could have told the precise date upon which , coming down-stairs at eight o'clock , he had first found her waiting breakfast for him . The time when all such incidents were to stand out , each to a nicety in its appointed place , had not yet arrived . For the moment his youth had returned to him ; he possessed the knowledge of work done , the sense of present companionship in a world of agreeable things ; above all , the steady , quiet conviction of his own capacity . All these things came to him in the moment of his entering the room , greeting Eve , and passing to the breakfast-table ; then , while his eyes still rested contentedly on the pleasant array of china and silver , while his senses were still alive to the fresh , earthly scent of Eve 's violets , the blow so long dreaded -- so slow in coming fell with accumulated force .