five o'clock
No one could tell exactly how the Major lived ; no one knew the rigid economy that he practiced ; no one had ever seen his small dingy chamber in a cheap lodging-house . The name of Fairfax was as good as a letter of introduction in the metropolis , and the Major had lived on it for years , on that and a carefully nursed little income -- an habitue of the club , and a methodical cultivator of the art of dining out . A most agreeable man , and perhaps the wisest man in his generation in those things about which it would be as well not to know anything . Seated one afternoon in his favorite corner for street observation , by the open window , with the evening paper in his hand , in the attitude of one expecting the usual five o'clock cocktail , he hailed Jack , who was just coming down-stairs from a protracted lunch . `` I say , Delancy , what 's this I hear ? '' `` About what ? '' said Jack , sauntering along to a seat opposite the Major , and touching a bell on the little table as he sat down .