about ten o’clock
Sir John took a certain cold interest in his surroundings , and in due course was recommended to spend an evening at the Café des Ambassadeurs , as it styled itself , for the habit of preferring French to Spanish designations for places of refreshment had come in since the great revolution . Sir John went , therefore , to the café , and with characteristic scorn of elemental disturbance chose to resort thither on the evening of the great gale . The few other occupants of the gorgeous room eyed his half-bottle of claret with a grave and decorous wonder , but made no attempt to converse with this chill-looking Englishman . At length , about ten o'clock or a few minutes later , entered one who bowed to Sir John with an air full of affable promise . This was Larralde , who called a waiter and bade him fetch a coat-brush . ` Would you believe it , sir ? ' he said , addressing Sir John in broken English , ` but I have just escaped a terrible death . '