six o'clock in the evening
This last letter occasioned Vargrave considerable alarm ; he had always felt a deep jealousy of the handsome ex-guardsman , and he at once suspected that Legard was about to repair to Paris as his rival . He sighed , and looked round the spacious apartment , and gazed on the wide prospects of grove and turf that extended from the window , and said to himself , `` Is another to snatch these from my grasp ? '' His impatience to visit Mrs. Leslie , to gain ascendency over Lady Vargrave , to repair to Paris , to scheme , to manoeuvre , to triumph , accelerated the progress of the disease that was now burning in his veins ; and the hand that he held out to Mr. Hobbs , as he stepped into his carriage , almost scorched the cold , plump , moist fingers of the surveyor . Before six o'clock in the evening Lord Vargrave confessed reluctantly to himself that he was too ill to proceed much farther . `` Howard , '' said he then , breaking a silence that had lasted some hours , `` do n't be alarmed ; I feel that I am about to have a severe attack ; I shall stop at M ----- -LRB- naming a large town they were approaching -RRB- ; I shall send for the best physician the place affords ; if I am delirious to-morrow , or unable to give my own orders , have the kindness to send express for Dr. Holland , -- but do n't leave me yourself , my good fellow . At my age , it is a hard thing to have no one in the world to care for me in illness ; d ----- n affection when I am well ! '' After this strange burst , which very much frightened Mr. Howard , Lumley relapsed into silence , not broken till he reached M ----- .