six o'clock
It was only twenty-five minutes past five . If they changed the dinner hour they ought at least to have let me know -- that is what the post is for , and not to have put me in an absurd position in my own eyes and ... and even before the waiters . I sat down ; the servant began laying the table ; I felt even more humiliated when he was present . Towards six o'clock they brought in candles , though there were lamps burning in the room . It had not occurred to the waiter , however , to bring them in at once when I arrived . In the next room two gloomy , angry-looking persons were eating their dinners in silence at two different tables . There was a great deal of noise , even shouting , in a room further away ; one could hear the laughter of a crowd of people , and nasty little shrieks in French : there were ladies at the dinner .