three o’clock
And Armand ? -- he had been out all night , and at that moment was walking with M. de Marsay in the Gardens of the Tuileries . The elder members , of Mme de Langeais ' family were engaged in calling upon one another , arranging to read her a homily and to hold a consultation as to the best way of putting a stop to the scandal . At three o'clock , therefore , M. le Duc de Navarreins , the Vidame de Pamiers , the old Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry , and the Duc de Grandlieu were assembled in Mme la Duchesse de Langeais ' drawing-room . To them , as to all curious inquirers , the servants said that their mistress was not at home ; the Duchess had made no exceptions to her orders . But these four personages shone conspicuous in that lofty sphere , of which the revolutions and hereditary pretensions are solemnly recorded year by year in the _ Almanach de Gotha _ , wherefore without some slight sketch of each of them this picture of society were incomplete . The Princesse de Blamont-Chauvry , in the feminine world , was a most poetic wreck of the reign of Louis Quinze .