four o'clock
We forgot that it was not because he drank or gambled that the Emperor was going to make him the head of the light cavalry , but because he had the surest eye for the nature of a position or for the strength of a column , and the best judgment as to when infantry could be broken , or whether guns were exposed , of any man in the army . We were too young to understand all that , however , so we waxed our moustaches and clicked our spurs and let the ferrules of our scabbards wear out by trailing them along the pavement in the hope that we should all become Lasalles . When he came clanking into my quarters , both Morat and I sprang to our feet . ` My boy , ' said he , clapping me on the shoulder , ` the Emperor wants to see you at four o'clock . ' The room whirled round me at the words , and I had to lean my hands upon the edge of the card-table . ` What ? ' I cried .