about noon
He was never absent from his place ; no little runnings up to Montfort House or Hill Street just to tell them the authentic news , or snatch a hasty repast with furtive delight , with persons still more delightful , and flattering one 's self all the time that , so far as absence was concerned , the fleetness of one 's gifted brougham horse really made it no difference between Mayfair and Bellamy 's . Endymion had replied , but not very quickly , to Lady Montfort 's letter , and he had heard from her again , but her letter requiring no reply , the correspondence had dropped . It was the beginning of March when she wrote to him to say , that she was obliged to come to town to see her lawyer and transact some business ; that she would be `` at papa 's in Grosvenor Square , '' though the house was shut up , on a certain day , that she much wished to see Endymion , and begged him to call on her . It was a trying moment when about noon he lifted the knocker to Grosvenor Square . The door was not opened rapidly , and the delay made him more nervous . He almost wished the door would never open . He was shown into a small back room on the ground floor in which was a bookcase , and which chamber , in the language of Grosvenor Square , is called a library .