two o’clock
Though religion orders us to conquer it , distrust remains , and its voice is forever heard . Would Oscar , at twenty years of age , have the wisdom to listen to it ? Alas ! when , at half-past two o'clock , Oscar entered the salon of the Rocher de Cancale , -- where were three invited persons besides the clerks , to wit : an old captain of dragoons , named Giroudeau ; Finot , a journalist who might procure an engagement for Florentine at the Opera , and du Bruel , an author , the friend of Tullia , one of Mariette 's rivals , -- the second clerk felt his secret hostility vanish at the first handshaking , the first dashes of conversation as they sat around a table luxuriously served . Georges , moreover , made himself charming to Oscar . `` You 've taken to private diplomacy , '' he said ; `` for what difference is there between a lawyer and an ambassador ? only that between a nation and an individual .