eleven o'clock
`` This sentiment was true ; however , while I so lightly esteemed the good things of the world , I felt that there was no doing without some little portion of them , were it only to inspire a more thorough contempt for the remainder . Love is more powerful than wealth -- more attractive than grandeur or fame ; but , alas ! it can not exist without certain artificial aids ; and there is nothing more humiliating to the feelings , of a sensitive lover , than to find himself , by want of means , reduced to the level of the most vulgar minds . `` It was eleven o'clock when we arrived at Chaillot . They received us at the inn as old acquaintances , and expressed no sort of surprise at seeing Manon in male attire , for it was the custom in Paris and the environs to adopt all disguises . I took care to have her served with as much attention as if I had been in prosperous circumstances . She was ignorant of my poverty , and I carefully kept her so , being resolved to return alone the following day to Paris , to seek some cure for this vexatious kind of malady .