an hour before eleven in the
morning
`` Do you suppose this train is going to let me keep it ? '' The gentleman addressed cautiously expressed the opinion that if no further malign influences were felt , and the train were presently to start , the remainder of the journey would occupy comparatively little time . And so in due course it came to pass as the elderly Bostonian had predicted , clearly proving -- if Smith had been open to accept proof -- that the Oriental method of reasoning is the most comfortable , whatever may be said of its efficiency . He had left home at eleven on the night before , and he arrived at the offices of Silas Osgood and Company , 175 Kilby Street , at exactly half an hour before eleven in the morning . The exercise of walking up from the South Station , although the walk was a short one , had wholly dispelled the irritation of the delay , so that his smile was as genuine as ever when Mr. Silas Osgood held out his courtly hand in welcome It would have been a very bitter mood that could have withstood the Bostonian 's greeting . `` We were looking for you a little earlier in the morning , '' he said , when the first greetings were over . `` You come so seldom nowadays that we feel you ought to come as early as possible . ''