nearly five o'clock
We shall always be glad to have your opinion on any subject of importance that may come before us ; and as regards the internal discipline of the office , we feel that we may leave it safely in your hands . In any matter of importance you will , of course , consult us , and I feel very confident that we shall go on together with great comfort and with mutual confidence . '' Then Mr. Optimist looked at his brother commissioners , sat down in his arm-chair , and taking in his hands some papers before him , began the routine business of the day . It was nearly five o'clock when , on this special occasion , the secretary returned from the board-room to his own office . Not for a moment had the weight been off his shoulders while Sir Raffle had been bragging or Mr. Optimist making his speech . He had been thinking , not of them , but of Lily Dale ; and though they had not discovered his thoughts , they had perceived that he was hardly like himself . `` I never saw a man so little elated by good fortune in my life , '' said Mr. Optimist .