four o'clock in the afternoon
`` There 's nothing so good as a little excitement to stop one from catching cold . '' `` Except lunch , '' I added , as the taxi rounded the corner of Piccadilly and drew up outside the Café Royal . What the manager of that renowned restaurant must have thought of us , I find it rather difficult to guess . It is not often , I should imagine , that two untidy mud-stained men and a beautiful girl turn up at four o'clock in the afternoon and demand the best meal that London can provide . Fortunately , however , he proved to be a gentleman of philosophy and resource . He accepted our request with perfect composure , and by the time we had succeeded in making ourselves passably respectable he presented us with a menu that deserved to be set to music . Heavens , what a lunch that was !