eight
o’clock
She hated , he knew , at the French play , anything but a box -- just as she hated at the English anything but a stall ; and a box was what he was already in this phase girding himself to press upon her . But she had for that matter her community with little Bilham : she too always , on the great issues , showed as having known in time . It made her constantly beforehand with him and gave him mainly the chance to ask himself how on the day of their settlement their account would stand . He endeavoured even now to keep it a little straight by arranging that if he accepted her invitation she should dine with him first ; but the upshot of this scruple was that at eight o'clock on the morrow he awaited her with Waymarsh under the pillared portico . She had n't dined with him , and it was characteristic of their relation that she had made him embrace her refusal without in the least understanding it . She ever caused her rearrangements to affect him as her tenderest touches . It was on that principle for instance that , giving him the opportunity to be amiable again to little Bilham , she had suggested his offering the young man a seat in their box .