five o’clock
He had been an occasional caller at the Lawrence homestead ever since he came to Beryngford . Without being conceited on the subject , he realised that Mabel Lawrence would not reject him as a suitor . The masculine party is very dull , or the feminine very deceptive , when a man makes a mistake in his impressions on this subject . That afternoon the young editor left his office at five o'clock and asked Miss Lawrence to be his wife . PRESTON CHENEY walked briskly down the street after he left his fiancée , his steps directed toward the Palace . It was seven o'clock , and he knew the Baroness would be at home . He had determined upon heroic treatment for his own mental disease -LRB- as he regarded his peculiar sentiments toward Berene Dumont -RRB- , and he had decided upon a similar course of treatment for the Baroness .