two
o'clock
`` Wait a minute , '' he called desperately into the telephone , but it was dead , and there is nothing in this world so dead as the telephone from which connection has been suddenly shut off . Sam strode into the dining-room and went straight over to Blackrock 's table . `` I find I have some pressing business right after luncheon , '' he said , bending over that gentleman 's chair . `` I ca n't possibly meet you at two o'clock . Will four do you ? '' `` Why , certainly , '' Mr. Blackrock was kind enough to say , and he furthermore agreed , with equal graciousness , to inform the others . Sam ate his luncheon in worried silence , replying only in monosyllables to the remarks of McComas , who sat at his table , and of Mrs. McComas , who had taken quite a young-motherly fancy to him ; and the amount that he ate was so much at variance with his usual hearty appetite that even the maid who waited on his table , a tall , gangling girl with a vinegar face and a kind heart , worried for fear he might be sick , and added unordered delicacies to his American plan meal .