four
o'clock
His voice faltered , choked by a sob , at those last words . After all , it is possible for a man without principle , without morality , to begin to make love to a woman in a mere spirit of adventure , in sheer devilry , and to be rather hard hit at the last . Horace Smithson sailed his yacht back to Cowes without loss of time , and sent his card to Lord Maulevrier on board the _ Philomel _ . His lordship replied that he would wait upon Mr. Smithson that afternoon at four o'clock , and at that hour Maulevrier again boarded the _ Cayman _ ; but this time very quietly , as an expected guest . The interview that followed was very painful . Mr. Smithson was willing that this unhappy episode in the life of his betrothed , this folly into which she had been beguiled by a man of infinite treachery , a man of all other men fatal to women , should be forgotten , should be as if it had never been . ` It was her very innocence which made her a victim to that scoundrel , ' said Smithson , ` her girlish simplicity and Lady Kirkbank 's folly .