three o'clock
`` I 'll make the Whitneys sick of their treachery ! '' said he . Back had come his sense of strength and superiority ; and once more he was `` gracious '' with servants and with such others of the `` peasantry '' as happened into or near his homeward path . Toward three o'clock that afternoon , as he was being whirled toward Saint X in the Eastern Express , his lawyer was in the offices of Ramsay & Vanorden , a rival firm of wreckers and pirate outfitters on the third floor of the same building . When Dawson had despatched his immediate business with Vanorden , he lingered to say : `` Well , I reckon we 'll soon be lined up on opposite sides in another big suit . '' Confidences between the two firms were frequent and natural -- not only because Vanorden and Dawson were intimate friends and of the greatest assistance each to the other socially and politically ; not only because Ramsay and Bischoffsheimer had married sisters ; but also , and chiefly , because big lawyers like to have big lawyers opposed to them in a big suit . For several reasons ; for instance , ingenuity on each side prolongs the litigation and makes it intricate , and therefore highly expensive , and so multiplies the extent of the banquet .