eight o'clock
The colour came into his face . There were twenty things he might have asked Mr. Pincornet that night at Monticello . He turned with hot impatience from the consideration of the usages of society , and fell to building with large and strong timbers the edifice of his future . He built on while the dusk gathered , and he built while Joab helped him to dress , and he was yet busy with beam and rafter when at eight o'clock , with some help from the negro , he descended the stairs and crossed the hall to the parlour door . How was he dressed ? He was dressed in a high-collared coat of blue cloth with eagle buttons , in cloth breeches and silk stockings , in shoes with silver buckles , and a lawn neckcloth of many folds . His hair was innocent of powder , and cut short in what the period supposed to be the high Roman fashion .