ten minutes to eight
By that time we were at the hotel , and the Perfect Fool had much to say . `` Could any gentleman oblige me with the time , English or French ? '' he asked ; `` my watch is so moved at the situation in which it finds itself that it is fourteen hours too slow . '' I told him that it was ten minutes to eight , and the information quickened him . `` Ten minutes to eight , and half-a-dozen Russian princes , to say nothing of an English knight , to meet ; so ho , my toilet must remain ! Could anyone oblige me with a comb , fragmentary or whole ? '' He continued his banter as we mounted the stairs of the cozy little hotel , whose windows overlook the core of the great throbbing heart of Paris , and so until we were alone in my room , whither he had followed me .