about three o’clock in the afternoon
Just as the patient had gone and Sir John was descending the stairs a messenger hurried in with a note summoning me instantly to attend upon Lady Colford , the wife of a rich banker and baronet who , I knew , was expecting her first confinement . Seizing my bag I started , and , as I reached the front door , I thought that I heard Sir John , who was now nearly at the foot of the stairs , call out something to me . I answered that I could n't stop but would see him later , to which I understood him to reply `` All right . '' This was about three o'clock in the afternoon , but so protracted and anxious was the case of Lady Colford that I did not reach home again till eight . Having swallowed a little food , for I was thoroughly exhausted , I went upstairs to see my wife . Entering the room softly I found that she was asleep , and that the nurse also was dozing on the sofa in the dressing-room . Fearing to disturb them , I kissed her lips , and going downstairs returned at once to Sir Thomas Colford 's house , where I spent the entire night in attendance on his wife .