three o’clock
The blue silk curtains were visible from outside through the branches of the trees , and the wide terraces , where exotic flowers were planted out of doors for the first time of the season , ran in borders along the whole length of the quay . The raking of the garden paths traced the light footprints of summer in the sand , while the soft fall of the water from the hoses on the lawns was its refreshing song . All the luxury of the princely residence lay sunning itself in the soft warmth of the temperature , borrowing a beauty from the silence , the repose of this noontide hour , the only hour when the roll of carriages was not to be heard under the arches , nor the banging of the great doors of the antechamber , and that perpetual vibration which the ringing of bells upon arrivals or departures sent coursing through the very ivy on the walls ; the feverish pulse of the life of a fashionable house . It was well known that up to three o'clock the duke held his reception at the Ministry , and that the duchess , a Swede still benumbed by the snows of Stockholm , had hardly issued from her drowsy curtains ; consequently nobody came to call , neither visitors or petitioners , and only the footmen , perched like flamingoes on the deserted flight of steps in front of the house , gave the place a touch of animation with the slim shadows of their long legs and their yawning weariness of idlers . As an exception , however , that day Jenkins 's brougham was standing waiting in a corner of the court-yard . The duke , unwell since the previous evening , had felt worse after leaving the breakfast-table , and in all haste had sent for the man of the pearls in order to question him on his singular condition . Pain nowhere , sleep and appetite as usual ; only an inconceivable lassitude , and a sense of terrible chill which nothing could dissipate .