noon
And yet -- so strong and strange are our ruling passions -- nothing could wean him from the alluring feckless ways which had heaped all these disasters upon him ... . Thus and otherwise philosophizing , V. Vivian slipped on his overcoat -LRB- which had so far escaped Mr. Garland 's requisitions -RRB- and flung wide the office windows to rid his chambers of the medical smell . He had had a busy morning , his habit of having no billheads , while regarded as demoralizing by professional brethren of the neighborhood , being clearly gratifying to the circumambient laity . It was now getting toward noon , and the doctor was in a hurry . Besides calls on his sick , he was very anxious to get uptown before dinner and inquire after his uncle Armistead Beirne , who had lain ill , with a heavy , rather alarming illness , since a day or two after his New Year 's reception . This call was purely avuncular , so to say , Mr. Beirne employing a reliable physician of his own ... . The young man picked up his doctor 's bag and opened the door .