eight o'clock
`` Thank you , Mr. Vernon . '' Jack shook hands with both gentlemen , picked up his hat and stick , and went off to an early dinner . Sir Lucius looked after him wistfully . Sir Lucius Chesney remained for an hour to further discuss the affair of the two Rembrandts with Mr. Lamb , and the conversation became so interesting that he almost forgot that he had arranged to leave Paddington for Oxford at eight o'clock ; when he suddenly remembered the fact he hurried off , fearful of losing his dinner , and St. Martin 's in the Fields indicated a quarter to seven as he entered Morley 's Hotel . At that time a little party of three persons were sitting down to a table in one of the luxurious dining-rooms of the Trocadero . Victor Nevill was the host , and his guests were Stephen Foster and his daughter ; later they were all going to see the production of a new musical comedy . Madge , as lovely as a dream in her lustrous , shimmering evening gown , fell under the sway of the lights and the music , and was more like her old self than she had been for months ; the papers had been kept out of her way , and she did not know that Jack had returned from India .