two o’clock
Benjamin , for instance , had been converted into Uncle Ben , and that again had been corrupted into Uncle ; which , by an easy transition , had again passed into Barnwell , in memory of the celebrated relative in that degree who was shot by his nephew George , while meditating in his garden at Camberwell . The gentlemen at Todgers 's had a merry habit , too , of bestowing upon him , for the time being , the name of any notorious malefactor or minister ; and sometimes when current events were flat they even sought the pages of history for these distinctions ; as Mr Pitt , Young Brownrigg , and the like . At the period of which we write , he was generally known among the gentlemen as Bailey junior ; a name bestowed upon him in contradistinction , perhaps , to Old Bailey ; and possibly as involving the recollection of an unfortunate lady of the same name , who perished by her own hand early in life , and has been immortalised in a ballad . The usual Sunday dinner-hour at Todgers 's was two o'clock -- a suitable time , it was considered for all parties ; convenient to Mrs Todgers , on account of the bakers ; and convenient to the gentlemen with reference to their afternoon engagements . But on the Sunday which was to introduce the two Miss Pecksniffs to a full knowledge of Todgers 's and its society , the dinner was postponed until five , in order that everything might be as genteel as the occasion demanded . When the hour drew nigh , Bailey junior , testifying great excitement , appeared in a complete suit of cast-off clothes several sizes too large for him , and in particular , mounted a clean shirt of such extraordinary magnitude , that one of the gentlemen -LRB- remarkable for his ready wit -RRB- called him ` collars ' on the spot . At about a quarter before five , a deputation , consisting of Mr Jinkins , and another gentleman , whose name was Gander , knocked at the door of Mrs Todgers 's room , and , being formally introduced to the two Miss Pecksniffs by their parent who was in waiting , besought the honour of conducting them upstairs .