five o’clock in the afternoon
We made a compromise of everything . If I hesitated , she was taken with that wonderful disorder which was always lying in ambush in her system , ready , at the shortest notice , to prey upon her vitals . If I rang the bell impatiently , after half-a-dozen unavailing modest pulls , and she appeared at last -- which was not by any means to be relied upon -- she would appear with a reproachful aspect , sink breathless on a chair near the door , lay her hand upon her nankeen bosom , and become so ill , that I was glad , at any sacrifice of brandy or anything else , to get rid of her . If I objected to having my bed made at five o'clock in the afternoon -- which I do still think an uncomfortable arrangement -- one motion of her hand towards the same nankeen region of wounded sensibility was enough to make me falter an apology . In short , I would have done anything in an honourable way rather than give Mrs. Crupp offence ; and she was the terror of my life . I bought a second-hand dumb-waiter for this dinner-party , in preference to re-engaging the handy young man ; against whom I had conceived a prejudice , in consequence of meeting him in the Strand , one Sunday morning , in a waistcoat remarkably like one of mine , which had been missing since the former occasion . The ` young gal ' was re-engaged ; but on the stipulation that she should only bring in the dishes , and then withdraw to the landing-place , beyond the outer door ; where a habit of sniffing she had contracted would be lost upon the guests , and where her retiring on the plates would be a physical impossibility .