six o'clock
The very essence of orderly procedure , of effective business , depends on the confidence of the House in its committees , and in all of my years as a member I have never known of such a thing . Gentlemen of the House , your committee are giving to this bill and other measures their undivided attention , and will report them at the earliest practicable moment . I hope that this motion will be voted down . '' Mr. Bascom , with a glance around to assure himself that most of the hundred members of the Newcastle delegation -- vassals of the Winona Corporation and subject to the Empire -- had not made use of their passes and boarded , as usual , the six o'clock train , took his seat . A buzz of excitement ran over the house , a dozen men were on their feet , including the plainly agitated Mr. Harper himself . But who is this , in the lunar cockpit before the Speaker 's desk , demanding firmly to be heard -- so firmly that Mr. Harper , with a glance at him , sits down again ; so firmly that Mr. Speaker Doby , hypnotized by an eye , makes the blunder that will eventually cost him his own head ? `` The gentleman from Leith , Mr. Crewe . ''