six o'clock
`` I can not say that I do , unless it were that he wished to be able to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were instituted . '' `` No , that was not the point . However , I shall write two letters which should settle the matter . One is to a firm in the City , the other is to the young lady 's stepfather , Mr. Windibank , asking him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock to-morrow evening . It is just as well that we should do business with the male relatives . And now , doctor , we can do nothing until the answers to those letters come , so we may put our little problem upon the shelf for the interim . '' I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend 's subtle powers of reasoning , and extraordinary energy in action , that I felt that he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy demeanor with which he treated the singular mystery which he had been called upon to fathom .