ten o’clock
This was to place in Somerset 's hands a hundred and twenty-five napoleons which had been demanded from her by a message in Somerset 's name . The money was in his pocket -- all in gold , in a canvas bag , tied up by Paula 's own hands , which he had observed to tremble as she tied it . As he leaned in the corner of the carriage he was thinking over the events of the morning which had culminated in that liberal response . At ten o'clock , before he had gone out from the hotel where he had taken up his quarters , which was not the same as the one patronized by Paula and her friends , he had been summoned to her presence in a manner so unexpected as to imply that something serious was in question . On entering her room he had been struck by the absence of that saucy independence usually apparent in her bearing towards him , notwithstanding the persistency with which he had hovered near her for the previous month , and gradually , by the position of his sister , and the favour of Paula 's uncle in intercepting one of Somerset 's letters and several of his telegrams , established himself as an intimate member of the travelling party . His entry , however , this time as always , had had the effect of a tonic , and it was quite with her customary self-possession that she had told him of the object of her message . ` You think of returning to Nice this afternoon ? '