three o'clock
Healthy , wealthy , wise ! No room but for perfection , self-preservation , the survival of the fittest ! `` The part of the good citizen , '' he thought : `` no , if we were all alike , this would n't be a world ! '' `` My dear Richard '' -LRB- wrote Shelton 's uncle the next day -RRB- , `` I shall be glad to see you at three o'clock to-morrow afternoon upon the question of your marriage settlement ... '' At that hour accordingly Shelton made his way to Lincoln 's Inn Fields , where in fat black letters the names `` Paramor and Herring -LRB- Commissioners for Oaths -RRB- '' were written on the wall of a stone entrance . He ascended the solid steps with nervousness , and by a small red-haired boy was introduced to a back room on the first floor . Here , seated at a table in the very centre , as if he thereby better controlled his universe , a pug-featured gentleman , without a beard , was writing . He paused .