one o'clock
He would never go to the Regency again without seeing her -- either a head leaning against his knee at rehearsal as they sat on a platform over the orchestra , or in their box , hand in hand , as on the first night of `` The Bomb-Shell , '' when his nerves were jangling like the broken wires of a harp ; he could never go to Mrs. Shelley 's house without hearing her singing Madame Butterfly 's song -- and without some fool 's asking if he had seen anything of Lady Barbara lately ... . A telegram was waiting for him , when at last he reached his office : Barbara would come up that day and dine with him ; she hoped that he had received no bad news ... . Eleven o'clock ; and he would not see her until eight . He was too restless to work and at one o'clock he handed his papers to a colleague and slunk into the street . His foot-steps were turned towards the Thespian Club ; but he could not pass the hall-porter without looking for a note , as on the night when he dined in his triumph with Lord Ettrick ; he could not see a page-boy without expecting to find that Barbara had telephoned to him ... . Half-way across the Horse Guards ' Parade , he encountered George Oakleigh . `` Hallo !