six o'clock
The character of his remarks was not quite what it would have been a day or two ago ; he joked with more freedom than was his custom . Studiously he avoided the eyes of his wife and daughter . He declined to sit up to the table , but drank a cup of tea with his hands resting on the back of a chair . The Cartwright sisters were anxious to use the evening for a visit to certain other friends ; shortly after six o'clock they took their departure . While Emily and Mrs. Hood were seeing them away at the door , Hood went upstairs to his laboratory . 'Em ily , come here , ' Mrs. Hood said , with anxious earnestness , leading the way back into the sitting-room . And , when the door was closed -- ` My dear , what _ is _ the matter with him ?