five o'clock
He tried to console himself with the absurd supposition that he was sleepy and that the long-drawn breath had been only a suppressed yawn . Then he walked on , gazing before him into the purple haze that filled the deep street just as the sun was setting , and a vague sadness and longing touched him which had no place in his catalogue of permissible emotions and which were as far removed from the cold cynicism which he admired in others and affected in himself as they were beyond the sphere of his analysis . There is an age , not always to be fixed exactly , at which the really masculine nature craves the society of womankind , in one shape or another , as a necessity of existence , and by the society of womankind no one means merely the daily and hourly social intercourse which consists in exchanging the same set of remarks half a dozen times a day with as many beings of gentle sex who , to the careless eye of ordinary man , differ from each other in dress rather than in face or thought . There are eminently manly men , that is to say men fearless , strong , honourable and active , to whom the common five o'clock tea presents as much distraction and offers as much womanly sympathy as they need ; who choose their intimate friends among men , rather than among women , and who die at an advanced age without ever having been more than comfortably in love -- and of such is the Kingdom of Heaven . The masculine man may be as brave , as strong and as scrupulously just in all his dealings , but on the other hand he may be weak , cowardly and a cheat , and he is apt to inherit the portion of sinners , whatever his moral characteristics may be , good or bad . Orsino was certainly not unmanly , but he was also eminently masculine and he began to suffer from the loss of Maria Consuelo 's conversation in a way that surprised himself . His acquaintance with her , to give it a mild name , had been the first of the kind which he had enjoyed , and it contrasted too strongly with the crude experiences of his untried youth not to be highly valued by him and deeply regretted .