about eleven o'clock
There 's Adolphus -- he 's had the good sense to get rid of his , and yet Fanny 's so foolish , she 'd sooner have that other horrid man -- and I 'm sure he 's not half so good-looking , nor a quarter so agreeable as Adolphus . '' All these encomiums on his son , and animadversions on Lord Ballindine , were not calculated to put the earl into a good humour ; he was heartily sick of the subject ; thoroughly repented that he had not allowed his son to ruin himself in his own way ; detested the very name of Lord Ballindine , and felt no very strong affection for his poor innocent ward . He accordingly made his wife nearly the same answer he had made his daughter , and left her anything but comforted by the visit . It was about eleven o'clock on the same evening , that Lord Kilcullen , after parting with Fanny , opened the book-room door . He had been quite sincere in what he had told her . He had made up his mind entirely to give over all hopes of marrying her himself , and to tell his father that the field was again open for Lord Ballindine , as far as he was concerned . There is no doubt that he would not have been noble enough to do this , had he thought he had himself any chance of being successful ; but still there was something chivalrous in his resolve , something magnanimous in his determination to do all he could for the happiness of her he really loved , when everything in his own prospects was gloomy , dark , and desperate .