nine o'clock
Next in age to him came Mr. Musselwhite , who looked about forty , and whose aquiline nose , high forehead , light bushy whiskers , and air of vacant satisfaction , marked him as the aristocrat of the assembly . This gentleman suffered under a truly aristocratic affliction -- the ever-reviving difficulty of passing his day . Mild in demeanour , easy in the discharge of petty social obligations , perfectly inoffensive , he came and went like a vivified statue of gentlemanly _ ennui _ . Every morning there arrived for him a consignment of English newspapers ; these were taken to his bedroom at nine o'clock , together with a cup of chocolate . They presumably occupied him until he appeared in the drawing-room , just before the hour of luncheon , when , in spite of the freshness of his morning attire , he seemed already burdened by the blank of time , always sitting down to the meal with an audible sigh of gratitude . Invariably he addressed to his neighbour a remark on the direction of the smoke from Vesuvius . If the neighbour happened to be uninformed in things Neapolitan , Mr. Musselwhite seized the occasion to explain at length the meteorologic significance of these varying fumes .