eleven o'clock
If better times came he had often thought that , if successful in winning a competency , he would return to his native land , for his close connection with the Scottish regiment kept alive in him his feeling of nationality , and he always regarded himself as a stranger in France . The estates and title now bestowed upon him seemed to put this hope further away than ever , and to fix him permanently in France , a contingency more disagreeable to him the more he saw how completely France was dominated by faction , and how unstable were the conditions of life there . His musings , therefore , as he walked up and down for hours , were very different from those which most young men would have felt at so great and sudden a change in their fortunes . The next morning he called at eleven o'clock , at which hour the cardinal 's secretary had informed him that Mazarin would expect him . He went to the abode of the minister . Mazarin received him with marked courtesy . `` Here are the deeds appointing to you the estate of la Villar and your patent of nobility , '' he said , pointing to a box upon his table .