ten o'clock
While Max Schurz 's hall was rapidly filling with the polyglot crowd of democratic solidarists , Ernest Le Breton and his brother were waiting in the chilly little drawing-room at Epsilon Terrace , Bayswater , for the expected arrival of Harry Oswald . Ernest had promised to introduce Oswald to Max Schurz 's reception ; and it was now past eight o'clock , getting rather a late hour for those simple-minded , early-rising Communists . ` I 'm afraid , Herbert , ' said Ernest to his brother , ` he forgets that Max is a working-man who has to be at his trade again punctually by seven o'clock to-morrow . He thinks he 's going out to a regular society At Home , where ten o'clock 's considered just the beginning of the evening . Max wo n't at all like his turning up so late ; it smells of non-productivity . ' ` If Herr Schurz wants to convert the world , ' Herbert answered chillily , rolling himself a tiny cigarette , ` he must convince the unproductive as well as the proletariate before he can set things fairly on the roll for better arrangement . The proletariate 's all very well in its way , no doubt , but the unproductive happen to hold the key of the situation .