four o'clock
Sydney Campion had done a year 's hard and remunerative work since he paid his last visit to Angleford , and the result more than answered his expectations . When the courts were sitting he was fully absorbed in his briefs ; but now and again he took life easily enough -- at any rate , so far as the law was concerned . In the autumn it had been his custom to live abroad for a month or two ; at Christmas and Easter he invariably found his way to his club in the afternoon , and finished the evening over a rubber of whist . It was a rare occasion when Sydney was able , in the middle of term , to leave his chambers between three and four o'clock , and stroll in a leisurely way along the Embankment , peacefully smoking a cigar . The chance came to him one sultry day in June . There was no case for him to master , nothing proceeding in which he was specially interested , and he did not feel disposed to sit down and improvise a case for himself , as he used to do in his earlier days . He was minded to be idle ; and we may accompany him in his westward walk along the river side to Hungerford Bridge , and up the Avenue to Pall Mall .