four o'clock
At luncheon , although he did not feel hungry , he joined the family at the table and pleased his mother by eating as heartily as of old . He was surprised to find how good the food tasted , and to realize what a pleasure it is to gratify one 's sense of taste . The tablets were all right for a journey , he thought , but if he always ate them he would be sure to miss a great deal of enjoyment , since there was no taste to them at all . At four o'clock he went to his workshop and unlocked the door . Everything was exactly as he had left it , and he looked at his simple electrical devices with some amusement . They seemed tame beside the wonders now in his possession ; yet he recollected that his numerous wires had enabled him to strike the Master Key , and therefore should not be despised . Before long he noticed a quickening in the air , as if it were suddenly surcharged with electric fluid , and the next instant , in a dazzling flash of light , appeared the Demon .