one o'clock
`` Very well . In any case I shall expect to catch you up at Cuneo , '' said the Prince , `` and so , if you please , we will make a rendezvous at a certain hotel . '' Baedeker was produced , a hotel was selected , and half an hour later His Highness was bidding us _ au revoir _ , as we settled ourselves in our luggage-wreathed car , to leave the town of Beatrice and the dominating , file-on-end shaped ruin . We had all been up so early that it seemed as if the day were growing old , but really it was only one o'clock , for we 'd lunched at twelve , and all the afternoon was before us in which to do , or not to do , our great climbing act . Just to see how our gorgeous chauffeur would look , I asked if I might n't sit on the front seat for a change , because my feet had gone to sleep in the tonneau yesterday . I half-expected that he would shuffle round for an excuse to keep Maida ; but with an immovable face he said that was for the three ladies to arrange . Of course , Maida must have wanted to be in front , but she is so horribly unselfish that she glories in sacrificing herself , so she gave up as meekly as if she had been a lady 's - maid , or a dormouse , and naturally I felt a little brute ; but I usually do feel a brute with Maida ; she 's so much better than any one I ever saw that I ca n't help imposing on her , and neither can Mamma .