eight
o'clock
Oh it was THERE , if that was all one wanted of a thing ! It was so `` there '' that , as had befallen him in Italy , in Spain , confronted at last , in dusky side-chapel or rich museum , with great things dreamed of or with greater ones unexpectedly presented , he had held his breath for fear of breaking the spell ; had almost , from the quick impulse to respect , to prolong , lowered his voice and moved on tiptoe . Supreme beauty suddenly revealed is apt to strike us as a possible illusion playing with our desire -- instant freedom with it to strike us as a possible rashness . This fortunately , however -- and the more so as his freedom for the time quite left him -- did n't prevent his hostess , the evening of his advent and while the vision was new , from being exactly as queer and rare and IMPAYABLE , as improbable , as impossible , as delightful at the eight o'clock dinner -- she appeared to keep these immense hours -- as she had overwhelmingly been at the five o'clock tea . She was in the most natural way in the world one of the oddest apparitions , but that the particular means to such an end COULD be natural was an inference difficult to make . He failed in fact to make it for a couple of days ; but then -- though then only -- he made it with confidence . By this time indeed he was sure of everything , luckily including himself .