three
o'clock
Daily , he had waited for another message from the golden voiced unknown , but so far , all his waiting and hoping had met with a barren reward . Then his thoughts reverted to his conversation with Mrs. Habersham , and his heart rose buoyantly with hope . She had , at least , assured him of one thing , and that was that there was nothing definite in these reports of Marcia 's engagement to Wilfred Ames ; and there were secret intimations prompted not of his vanity , but of a belief in the sympathetic understanding existing between Marcia and himself , which confirmed him in his determination to make the most of a fighting chance . He managed , with these reflections , his correspondence and the various details of some business matters , to pass the morning ; but when at three o'clock he made his way to the Mariposa 's apartment he found himself to his own disgust in an unwonted state of excitement , which , as usual with him , revealed itself only in a more calm and leisurely demeanor ; but when on stepping from the elevator he realized that his hands were like ice , he was for the moment irritated at his lack of nerve , and then he quickly bolstered himself up with the reflection that the day of destiny comes only once in a lifetime and one would have arrived at a state of vegetable stolidity to meet it unmoved . Then he laughed at himself for clinging so obstinately to the belief that this was the day of his destiny , and this laughter cleared his mental atmosphere . He was himself again , in command of his self-assurance and good spirits . His ring was answered immediately by the trim maid who conducted him through a narrow hall and into a small reception-room where she requested him to wait while she informed her mistress of his presence .