twelve o'clock
So altogether the puckered frown soon left her smooth brow , and she was able to resume the knitting of a tie she was doing for her son , with a spirit more or less at rest , though she sighed now and then as she remembered Morella Winmarleigh could not be expected to wait forever -- and her cherished vision of perfectly behaved , vigorously healthy grandchildren was still a long way from being realized . For with such a mother what perfect children they would be ! This was always her final reflection . At twelve o'clock punctually Lord Bracondale was ushered into Mrs. McBride 's sitting-room at the Ritz , the day after her dinner-party at Armenonville . He expected she would not be ready to receive him for at least half an hour ; having said twelve he might have known she meant half-past , but he was in a mood of impatience , and felt obliged to be punctual . He was suffering more or less from a reaction . He had begun towards morning to realize the manner in which he had spent the evening was not altogether wise .