about four o'clock
But he was helpless , and when he had tried to plead his cause he had done himself no good . He had rather so conducted himself as to give May Gaston the right to shut the door on any further friendship with him ; towards her future husband he had never varied from an attitude of cool disdain . It was more than a month since he had seen her , it was longer since he had done more than nod carelessly to Quisanté as they passed one another in the lobby or the smoking-room . Then one day , a fortnight before the marriage , he met Quisanté as they were both leaving the House about four o'clock . On a sudden impulse he joined his rival . He knew his man ; Quisanté received him with friendliness and even effusion , and invited him to join him in a call at Lady Attlebridge 's . They went on together , Quisanté elated at this new evidence of his power to reconcile opposition and conciliate support , Marchmont filled with a vague painful curiosity and a desire to see the two together at the cost of any suffering the sight might bring him .