a quarter to four
`` You are right , '' Lovoresco said , shrugging his shoulders . `` I am pleased once more to meet ze expert . '' `` Mr. Simon Lecourt , '' announced the butler . At a quarter to four -- the cheque having been signed -- Roger was shaking hands with the jewel expert he had summoned , and bowing to Count Lovoresco . The pearls were his , and he was impatient for Beverley . In five or six minutes she ought to arrive . Beverley stepped into the lift as Count Lovoresco and Simon Lecourt stepped out .