three o'clock
As Loring was a club-man , and belonged to a family of good social standing , his circle of acquaintances was large , and in this circle a good many unpleasant remarks had been made regarding the proposed entertainment -- made , of course , by the people who had not been invited to be present . Some of the gossip on the subject had reached Loring , who did not hesitate to say that he could not talk to a crowd , and that he did not care to show the curious things he had collected to people who would not thoroughly appreciate them . He had been very particular in regard to his invitations . At three o'clock on the appointed afternoon nearly all the people who had been invited to the Unicorn Theatre were in their seats . No one had stayed away except for some very good reason , for it was well known that if Herbert Loring offered to show anything it was worth seeing . About forty people were present , who sat talking to one another , or admiring the decoration of the theatre . As Loring stood upon the stage -- where he was entirely alone , his exhibition requiring no assistants -- he gazed through a loophole in the curtain upon a very interesting array of faces .