a quarter past six
The whole stretch of his stay after Cornelia 's withdrawal had been consumed by his almost ostentatiously treating himself to the opportunity of which he was to make nothing . It was as if he had sat and watched himself -- that came back to him : Shall I now or sha 'n' t I ? Will I now or wo n't I ? `` Say within the next three minutes , say by a quarter past six , or by twenty minutes past , at the furthest -- always if nothing more comes up to prevent . '' What had already come up to prevent was , in the strangest and drollest , or at least in the most preposterous , way in the world , that not Cornelia 's presence , but her very absence , with its distraction of his thoughts , the thoughts that lumbered after her , had made the difference ; and without his being the least able to tell why and how . He put it to himself after a fashion by the image that , this distraction once created , his working round to his hostess again , his reverting to the matter of his errand , began suddenly to represent a return from so far . That was simply all -- or rather a little less than all ; for something else had contributed .