twenty minutes past nine
Certainly I have known persons of very grave pursuits , of very dignified character and position , who seem to regain the vivacity of boyhood when disguising look and voice for a part in some drawing-room comedy or charade . I might name statesmen of solemn repute rejoicing to raise and to join in a laugh at their expense in such travesty of their habitual selves . The reader must not therefore be surprised , nor , I trust , deem it inconsistent with the more serious attributes of Graham 's character , if the Englishman felt the sort of joyful excitement I describe , as , in his way to the cafe Jean Jacques , he meditated the role he had undertaken ; and the joyousness was heightened beyond the mere holiday sense of humouristic pleasantry by the sanguine hope that much to effect his lasting happiness might result from the success of the object for which his disguise was assumed . It was just twenty minutes past nine when he arrived at the cafe Jean Jacques . He dismissed the _ fiacre _ and entered . The apartment devoted to customers comprised two large rooms . The first was the cafe properly speaking ; the second , opening on it , was the billiard-room .