nine o’clock
You do not scruple to make a libertine of that noble man ; you call him a sensualist as coolly as if you were speaking the truth , and yet it would not be possible to find a chaster man . He was even a scholar of note , and in correspondence with several celebrated scientists , and spent large sums in the interests of science . As to his kind heart and his good actions , you were right indeed when you said that I was almost an idiot at that time , and could hardly understand anything -- -LRB- I could speak and understand Russian , though -RRB- , -- but now I can appreciate what I remember -- '' `` Excuse me , '' interrupted Hippolyte , `` is not this rather sentimental ? You said you wished to come to the point ; please remember that it is after nine o'clock . '' `` Very well , gentlemen -- very well , '' replied the prince . `` At first I received the news with mistrust , then I said to myself that I might be mistaken , and that Pavlicheff might possibly have had a son . But I was absolutely amazed at the readiness with which the son had revealed the secret of his birth at the expense of his mother 's honour .