thirty-seven minutes past nine
`` My dear boy , '' replied the other , peeling a peach which he had impaled on a fork , `` it is not likely the Duke would ask a lady to go with him without telling her who the men were to be . Be calm , however ; I have observed your habits , and in two hours and twenty-three minutes your mind will be at rest . '' `` How so ? '' `` It is now thirty-seven minutes past nine . Do you mean to say you have failed once for weeks past to be at the Countess 's as the clock strikes twelve ? '' Claudius was silent . It was quite true ; he went there daily at the same hour ; for , as appeared in the beginning of this tale , he was a regular man .