three in the afternoon
Early in the seventies there came rumors of young Ellwell 's disgrace in the Tremont Club . He was detected cheating at play , and left the club , of which Mark Ellwell was vice-president . John Ellwell was a large , florid man , with the fine features of the good New England pastor , a slightly Roman nose , and a gouty tendency in his walk . He was the flourishing broker , of the kind who worked on nerve , who was never sober after three in the afternoon , and having begun to drink at ten was uncertain after twelve . He knew a side of business life that his father had never seen ; he associated with men whom the stiff Mark would have disdained to recognize . But his reputation for cleverness carried him on in spite of the club affair until ... . One day , after a spree , he went on the Board wild and flurried .