seven o’clock
The lawyer had known Mrs. Linley before her marriage , and had been inclined to think that she would have done wisely if she had given her hand to the younger brother instead of the elder . His acquaintance with Randal ripened rapidly into friendship . But his relations with Herbert made no advance toward intimacy : there was a gentlemanlike cordiality between them , and nothing more . At seven o'clock the two friends sat at a snug little table , in the private room of a hotel , with an infinite number of questions to ask of each other , and with nothing to interrupt them but a dinner of such extraordinary merit that it insisted on being noticed , from the first course to the last . Randal began . `` Before we talk of anything else , '' he said , `` tell me about Catherine and the child . Where are they ? ''