about two o'clock
Closing the door after him and bidding Mrs. McGrath allow no one to enter the study until his return unless Mr. Elmendorf should come in , Major Cranston went in search of him . It was barely noon , up to which hour he was supposed to be closeted with his pupil at the Allisons ' home . Then after a light luncheon it was his wont to sally forth on a tramp , Cary starting , but rarely returning , with him . When Cranston was at head-quarters a fortnight previous , the officers were speaking of the almost daily appearance about two o'clock of Mr. Elmendorf , who was possessed with a desire to get into the general 's office and impress that magnate with his views concerning the impending crisis . The general , however , being forearmed , was always too busy to accord the interview , one experience having proved more than enough . Everybody was beginning to give Elmendorf the cold shoulder there , and by this time , reasoned Cranston , he must have had sense enough to discontinue his visits . Here , however , he underrated Elmendorf 's devotion to his principles , for such was the tutor 's conviction of their absolute wisdom and such his sense of duty to humanity that he was ready to encounter any snub rather than be balked in his determination to right the existing wrongs .