one
o'clock
For the joy that might be his -- he must wait ; even though he wearied in the waiting . And it was while he waited that he lunched one day with Porter Bigelow . The invitation had surprised him , and he had felt vaguely troubled and oppressed by the thought that back of it might be some motive as yet unrevealed . But there had been nothing to do but accept , and at one o'clock he was at the University Club . For a time they spoke of indifferent things , then Porter said , bluntly , `` I am not going to beat about the bush , Poole . I 've asked you here to talk about Mary Ballard . '' `` Yes ? ''