eleven o'clock
Sometimes I stopped in the middle of a sentence , to look and to listen rather more intently than seemed absolutely necessary , and on each occasion I was obliged to begin the sentence all over again , because , for the life of me , I could n't remember what it was I had set out to say in dictation . Poopendyke had an air of patient tolerance about him that irritated me intensely . More than once I thought I detected him in the act of suppressing a smile . At eleven o'clock , Blatchford came to the door . His ordinarily stoical features bore signs of a great , though subdued excitement . I had a fleeting glimpse of Britton in the distance , -- a sort of passing shadow , as it were . `` A note for you , sir , if you please , '' said he .