about ten o'clock
Tressady walked on , stung and excited afresh by the memory of the hateful half hour he had spent that morning in Fontenoy 's library . For after all , when once he had come to his decision , he had tried to behave with frankness , with consideration . Fontenoy hurried on to look for the young viscount with the curls and shoulders , and the two men stood about the inner lobby together , Fontenoy sombrely watching everybody who came out or in . It was about ten o'clock when Tressady caught the Speaker 's eye . He rose in a crowded House , a House conscious not only that the division shortly to be taken would decide the fate of a Government , but vaguely aware , besides , that something else was involved -- one of those personal incidents that may at any moment make the dullest piece of routine dramatic , or rise into history by the juxtaposition of some great occasion . The House had not yet made up its opinion about him as a speaker . He had done well ; then , not so well .