four o'clock
The great strike had collapsed , the leaders were under the indictment of the law , and this particular agitator 's occupation , like that of hundreds of his hapless dupes , was gone . Nevertheless it pleased him to lurk about the neighborhood until fifteen minutes after the appointed time , so that he might be the last to arrive and might thereby keep the so-called upper classes waiting . The moment he arrived the chief of staff proceeded to business . `` You set four o'clock as the time you would appear to make your charges , Mr. Elmendorf , and we 've been waiting here a quarter of an hour . '' `` Affairs of greater importance , sir , occupied my time . '' `` Oh , yes ; our janitor tells us that you have been communing with yourself over a glass of beer in the saloon across the way for the last hour . -- Gentlemen , I received a letter from Mr. Elmendorf yesterday morning , which I will read : '' ` SIR , -- Having been informed that Mr. Warren Starkey , a clerk in your employ , has been discharged because of his having been accused of revealing to the press certain facts relative to the circumstances under which Lieutenant Forrest was twice ordered away from Chicago , this is to inform you that unless Mr. Starkey is immediately reinstated I shall consider it my duty , as an accredited correspondent of numerous newspapers of high repute , to publish all the facts in the case as well known to me , and to demand the dismissal of Lieutenant Forrest .