eight o'clock
`` I have so often longed to have some one with me who could explain things -- the very deep things , you know . But to think of having you -- the Editor and nephew ! It 's too good to be true . '' `` Only eight o'clock , '' he said to himself , glancing at the clock . `` I 'm in for a night of it . '' The vision of a game of bridge and a coon song on the banjo from that moment faded quite away , and the Count even tucked his feet as far out of sight as possible , since those entrancing socks served to remind him too poignantly of what might have been . `` What exactly did he mean by this ? ''