four in the afternoon
He was a man accustomed , when he desired a thing within his reach , to stretch out his hand and take it . He reviewed the case calmly , and decided to commit suicide . If the thing were to be done at all , it would be best , for reasons that if set forth would make this a long story , that it should be done that very night , and , if possible , before eleven o'clock , which was the earliest hour a certain person could arrive from a certain place . It was then four in the afternoon . He attended to some necessary business , and wrote some necessary letters . This occupied him until seven . He then called a cab and drove to a small hotel in the suburbs , engaged a private room , and ordered up materials for the making of the particular punch that had been the last beverage he had got drunk on , six - and-twenty years ago .