One o'clock
You understand ? '' He assured me that he did , and left me to nurse my unpleasant thoughts for half an hour , returning at the end of that time with the information that M. de Canaples was seated at dinner in the `` Auberge du Soleil . '' Naught could have been more attuned to my purpose , and straightway I drew on my boots , girt on my sword , and taking my hat and cloak , I sallied out into the rain , and wended my way at a sharp pace towards the Rue St. Honoré . One o'clock was striking as I crossed the threshold of the `` Soleil '' and flung my dripping cloak to the first servant I chanced upon . I glanced round the well-filled room , and at one of the tables I espied my quarry in company with St. Auban and Montmédy -- the very gentlemen who were to fight beside him that evening -- and one Vilmorin , as arrant a coxcomb and poltroon as could be found in France . With my beaver cocked at the back of my head , and a general bearing that for aggressiveness would be hard to surpass , I strode up to their table , and stood for a moment surveying them with an insolent stare that made them pause in their conversation . They raised their noble heads and bestowed upon me a look of haughty and disdainful wonder , -- such a look as one might bestow upon a misbehaving lackey , -- all save Vilmorin , who , with a coward 's keen nose for danger , turned slightly pale and fidgeted in his chair .