eight o'clock
Had the opportunity arisen he would have told her now the whole story of Mary Flood Jones ; but the opportunity did not come , and he left her , never having mentioned the name of his Mary or having hinted at his engagement to any one of his friends in London . `` It is better so , '' he said to himself . `` My life in Ireland is to be a new life , and why should I mix two things together that will be so different ? '' He was to dine at his lodgings , and then leave them for good at eight o'clock . He had packed up everything before he went to Portman Square , and he returned home only just in time to sit down to his solitary mutton chop . But as he sat down he saw a small note addressed to himself lying on the table among the crowd of books , letters , and papers , of which he had still to make disposal . It was a very small note in an envelope of a peculiar tint of pink , and he knew the handwriting well .