two o'clock in the afternoon
But perhaps it was no easier to Janetta than to other people . Janetta ran down to the dining-room , where she found her father surveying with a rather dissatisfied air the cold and scanty repast which was spread out for him . Mr. Colwyn was so much out that his meals had to be irregular , and he ate them just when he had a spare half hour . On this occasion he had been out since two o'clock in the afternoon , and had not had time even for a cup of tea . He had been attending a hopeless case , moreover , and one about which he had been anxious for some weeks . Fagged , chilled , and dispirited , it was no wonder that he had returned home in not the best of tempers , and that he was a little disposed to find fault when Janetta made her appearance . `` Where is mamma ? ''