eight
o'clock
`` I shall miss the swimming , the boxing , the fencing , and the pistol practice , '' he complained , referring to diversions in which Orange was an expert and himself the bored but dutiful participant . `` They nearly always drop these things when they marry . '' The loss he really feared was the moral support and affection of his former secretary -- advantages which a selfish nature is slow to appreciate , yet most tenacious of when once convinced of their use . The nuptial mass had been fixed for eight o'clock , the wedding party were to breakfast at Almouth House afterwards , then the bride and groom were to leave by the mail for Southampton _ en route _ for Miraflores in Northern France . The two young men drove together to the chapel attached to the Alberian Embassy . Not a word passed between them , but Reckage , under his eyelids , examined every detail of his friend 's attire . He wondered at its satisfactoriness on the whole , inasmuch as Orange had not seen fit to consult him on the point .