during the hour which passed before the gentlemen appeared.
.” It was customary during that time for men to take leave of women after dinner and go to a different room to smoke: "A gentlemen never smokes in the presence of ladies"(Pool, DanielWhat Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knewpp54-56 and http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~runge/MasonJA1.html)