three o'clock
`` Oh , but past any doubting , '' said Perion , `` the devil caters to each according to his merits . '' _ How Melicent Wooed _ Then Perion knew that vain regret had turned his brain , very certainly , for it seemed the door had opened and Dame Melicent herself had come , warily , into the panelled gloomy room . It seemed that Melicent paused in the convulsive brilliancy of the firelight , and stayed thus with vaguely troubled eyes like those of a child newly wakened from sleep . And it seemed a long while before she told Perion very quietly that she had confessed all to Ayrart de Montors , and had , by reason of de Montors ' love for her , so goaded and allured the outcome of their talk -- `` ignobly , '' as she said , -- that a clean-handed gentleman would come at three o'clock for Perion de la Forêt , and guide a thief toward unmerited impunity . All this she spoke quite levelly , as one reads aloud from a book ; and then , with a signal change of voice , Melicent said : `` Yes , that is true enough . Yet why , in reality , do you think I have in my own person come to tell you of it ? '' `` Madame , I may not guess .