ten o'clock
`` I am best at that . But I shall not go to Africa . '' The life unlived , the deed undone , the tear Unshed . `` I rather expect -- Lady Cantourne , '' said Sir John to his servants when he returned home , `` any time between now and ten o'clock . '' The butler , having a vivid recollection of an occasion when Lady Cantourne was shown into a drawing-room where there were no flowers , made his preparations accordingly . The flowers were set out with that masculine ignorance of such matters which brings a smile -- not wholly of mirth -- to a woman 's face . The little-used drawing-room was brought under the notice of the housekeeper for that woman 's touch which makes a drawing-room what it is .