Dupont had been tempted more than once to enter into conversation with his fellow promenaders, but he had not dared.
"The time wouldn't seem so long, if I were talking with these gentlemen," he said to himself; "that would divert my thoughts and make it easier to be patient; but perhaps they are not in a mood for talking."
Suddenly Edward stopped and drew his watch. Monsieur de Mardeille did the same; whereupon Monsieur Dupont walked up to them, drew his own watch, and ventured to say:
"I beg pardon, messieurs, but will you allow me to ask what time you make it? My watch may be a little fast, and I should like to be certain of the time. I say twenty-two minutes past two."
"Two twenty-two; that's my time, too," said Monsieur de Mardeille.
"Faith! messieurs, we go better than Charles the Fifth's clocks," said the viscount, after consulting his watch; "I agree with you exactly."
"Didn't Charles the Fifth's clocks go well?" inquired Dupont.
"Don't you know that that monarch, after abdicating, cultivated a passion for clockmaking? He amused himself mending and improving clocks; he had an enormous number of them, and they went so well together that sometimes, as a reward of his labors, he had the pleasure of hearing them strike twelve for a whole hour!"
They laughed heartily over Charles the Fifth's clocks; then Dupont observed:
"I had a rendezvous for two o'clock, here in this path."