eleven
o’clock
`` To serve those who make and unmake ministers . A letter was shown to me from one of those personages who represent the stable and immovable thought of the State . '' Before going farther , it is necessary to explain who this Unknown person was , and what his purpose was in coming to Champagne . About two months before the nomination of Simon Giguet , at eleven o'clock one evening , in a mansion of the faubourg Saint-Honore belonging to the Marquise d'Espard , while tea was being served the Chevalier d'Espard , brother-in-law to the marquise , put down his tea-cup , and , looking round the circle , remarked : -- `` Maxime was very melancholy to-night , -- did n't you think so ? '' `` Yes , '' replied Rastignac , `` but his sadness is easily accounted for . He is forty-eight years old ; at that age a man makes no new friends , and now that we have buried de Marsay , Maxime has lost the only man capable of understanding him , of being useful to him , and of using him . '' `` He probably has pressing debts .