four
o'clock in the afternoon
Wiggleswick grunted . `` I 'll turn on the tap and leave it . '' The door having closed behind his body servant , Septimus laid his ivory rule on the portion of the complicated diagram of machinery which he had been measuring off , and soon became absorbed in his task . It was four o'clock in the afternoon . He had but lately risen , and sat in pyjamas and dressing-gown over his drawing . A bundle of proofs and a jam-pot containing a dissipated looking rosebud lay on that space of the table not occupied by the double-elephant sheet of paper . By his side was a manuscript covered with calculations to which he referred or added from time to time .