six o'clock
He inquired when Mrs. Field arrived , was kindly circumstantial as to her health , touched decorously but not too mournfully upon the late Thomas Maxwell 's illness and decease . He alluded to the letter which he had written her , mentioning as a singular coincidence that at the moment of her entrance he was engaged in writing another to her , to inquire if the former had been received . He spoke in terms of congratulation of the property to which she had fallen heir , and intimated that further discussion concerning it , as a matter of business , had better be postponed until morning . Daniel Tuxbury was very methodical in his care for himself , and was loath to attend to any business after six o'clock . Mrs. Field sat like a bolt of iron while the lawyer talked to her . Unless a direct question demanded it , she never spoke herself . But he did not seem to notice it ; he had enough garnered-in complacency to delight himself , as a bee with its own honey .