ten minutes past eight
For the present he was content with the desire to avoid the Princess Wanda Bukaty . And this he was not allowed to do . Two days after the meeting at the Mokotow -- the morning following the visit paid by Wanda to the Hotel de l'Europe -- Cartoner was early astir . He drove to the railway station in time to catch the half-past eight train , and knowing the ways of the country , he took care to arrive at ten minutes past eight . He took his ticket amid a crowd of peasants -- wild-looking men in long coats and high boots , rough women in gay shades of red , in short skirts and top-boots , like their husbands . This was not a fashionable train , nor a through train to one of the capitals . A religious fete at a village some miles out of Warsaw attracted the devout from all parts , and the devout are usually the humble in Roman Catholic countries .