quarter after six before
`` 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 ! And since he would be presented with all respectable ceremony at the English Embassy the following night , it could not matter a bit -- and if it did -- !