nine o'clock
`` Delighted ! '' After the telephone conversation , Larssen went straight to No. 8 , Rue Laffitte . He had wired the night before to London to have a secretary sent over -- Sylvester , his usual confidential man , if the latter were back at business ; if not , another subordinate he named . Catching the nine o'clock train from Charing Cross , the secretary would arrive in Paris about five in the afternoon . Meanwhile , Larssen , had to make his search for Rivière in person . The business of a financier differs radically from a mercantile business on the point of staff . The main work of negotiation can only be carried out by the head of the firm himself , as a rule , and the routine work for subordinates is small , except when a public company flotation is being made .