noon
By six o'clock , if something were not done , he would be unmanageable . The tutor stood in no little awe of his host . He had tremors down his back when he thought of his violence ; nor was this dogged persistence in a design , as cruel as it was cunning , calculated to lessen the feeling . But he had five thousand pounds at stake , a fortune on which he had been pluming himself since noon ; it was no time for hesitation . They were dining in the hall at the table at which they had played cards the night before , Jarvey and Lord Almeric 's servant attending them . Between the table and the staircase was a screen . The next time Lord Almeric 's glass was filled , the tutor , in reaching something , upset the glass and its contents over his own breeches , and amid the laughter of the other two retired behind the screen to be wiped .