noon
`` That 's just what we intend . If you knew too much you might betray yourself , for the people we 've got to deal with have eyes in the backs of their heads , '' declared Bindo . It was five o'clock next morning before I returned to the Grand , but during the hours we smoked together , at various obscure cafés , the trio told me nothing further , though they chaffed me regarding the beauty of the girl who had consented to act the part of my wife , and who , I could only suppose , `` stood in '' with us . At noon , surely enough , came a special invitation to the `` Comte et Comtesse de Bourbriac '' for the great ball that evening at the Hôtel Belle Vue , and at ten o'clock that night Valentine entered our private salon splendidly dressed in a low-cut gown of smoke-grey chiffon covered with sequins . Her hair had been dressed by a maid of the first order , and as she stood pulling on her long gloves she looked superb . `` How do you find me , my dear M'sieur Ewart ? Do I look like a comtesse ? ''