eleven o’clock
said he , `` why did you not speak sooner ? '' Catenac at once divined Mascarin 's project , and understood the allusion to the Duke de Champdoce . The Marquis de Croisenois was never punctual . He had received a note asking him to call on Mascarin at eleven o'clock , and twelve had struck some time before he made his appearance . Faultlessly gloved , his glass firmly fixed in his eye , and a light walking cane in his hand , and with that air of half-veiled insolence that is sometimes affected by certain persons who wish the world to believe that they are of great importance , the Marquis de Croisenois entered the room . At the age of twenty-five Henry de Croisenois affected the airs and manners of a lad of twenty , and so found many who looked upon his escapades with lenient eyes , ascribing them to the follies of youth . Under this youthful mask , however he concealed a most astute and cunning intellect , and had more than once got the better of the women with whom he had had dealings .