five minutes to one
`` Since then ? '' `` I did not lose sight of him through supper . When we all came upstairs again , Lady Portarles buttonholed him and started on the subject of pretty Mlle. Suzanne de Tournay . I knew he would not move until Lady Portarles had exhausted the subject , which will not be for another quarter of an hour at least , and it is five minutes to one now . '' He was preparing to go , and went up to the doorway , where , drawing aside the curtain , he stood for a moment pointing out to Marguerite the distant figure of Sir Andrew Ffoulkes in close conversation with Lady Portarles . `` I think , '' he said , with a triumphant smile , `` that I may safely expect to find the person I seek in the dining-room , fair lady . '' `` There may be more than one . ''