six o'clock
`` Then , '' said Captain Stewart , `` if I am to be good-naturedly forgiven for my stupidity , let me go on and say , in my capacity as a member of the family , that the news pleased me very much . I was glad to hear it . '' He shook Ste. Marie 's hand , looking very benignant indeed , and Ste. Marie was quite overcome with pleasure and gratitude ; it seemed to him such a very kindly act in the elder man . He produced things to smoke and drink , and Captain Stewart accepted a cigarette and mixed himself a rather stiff glass of absinthe -- it was between five and six o'clock . `` And now , '' said he , when he was at ease in the most comfortable of the low cane chairs , and the glass of opalescent liquor was properly curdled and set at hand -- `` now , having congratulated you and -- ah , welcomed you , if I may put it so , as a probable future member of the family -- I turn to the other feature of the affair . '' He had an odd trick of lowering his head and gazing benevolently upon an auditor as if over the top of spectacles . It was one of his elderly ways .