four o'clock
And Fitzgerald was drawn toward this comparative stranger , who was not ashamed to speak from his heart . They drifted into a long conversation , and fought a dozen battles , compared this general and that , and built idle fancies upon what the outcome would have been had Napoleon won at Waterloo . This might have gone on indefinitely had not the patient attendant finally dandled his keys and yawned over his watch . It was four o'clock , and they had been talking for a full hour . They exchanged cards , and Fitzgerald , with his usual disregard of convention , invited Breitmann to dine with him that evening at the Meurice . He selected a table by the window , dining at seven-thirty . Breitmann was prompt .