about eight o'clock
It chanced that neither of the two men had a dinner engagement that evening , and so , after their old habit , they dined together . There was some wrangling over where they should go , Hartley insisting upon Armenonville or the Madrid , in the Bois , Ste. Marie objecting that these would be full of tourists so late in June , and urging the claims of some quiet place in the Quarter , where they could talk instead of listening perforce to loud music . In the end , for no particular reason , they compromised on the little Spanish restaurant in the rue Helder . They went there about eight o'clock , without dressing , for it is a very quiet place which the world does not visit , and they had a sopa de yerbas , and some langostinos , which are shrimps , and a heavenly arroz , with fowl in it , and many tender , succulent strips of red pepper . They had a salad made out of a little of everything that grows green , with the true Spanish oil , which has a tang and a bouquet unappreciated by the Philistine ; and then they had a strange pastry and some cheese and green almonds . And to make then glad , they drank a bottle of old red Valdepenas , and afterward a glass each of a special Manzanilla , upon which the restaurant very justly prides itself . It was a simple dinner and a little stodgy for that time of the year , but the two men were hungry and sat at table , almost alone in the upper room , for a long time , saying how good everything was , and from time to time despatching the saturnine waiter , a Madrileno , for more peppers .