a quarter to eight
`` I really can not help it , my dear , '' Canon Ebley replied , irritably , `` and I rather like his face . '' `` Erasmus ! '' was all Mrs. Ebley could say , and prepared to return to her room . Dinner would be at a quarter to eight , she told Stella at her door , and recommended an hour 's quiet reading up of the guide-book while resting to her niece . It was quarter after six before Miss Rawson descended the stairs to the hall again . She had deliberately made up her mind -- she would go and drive with the count . She would live and amuse herself , if it was only for this once in her life , come what might of it !