two in the afternoon
Indeed , it is her favorite miracle , this . For at work of this sort the old Philistine knows that she is an adept ; and she has rejoiced in the skill of her hands , with a sober workmanly joy , since Cain first went a-wooing in the Land of Nod . So Colonel Rudolph Musgrave , without understanding what had happened to him , on a sudden was strangely content with life . It was at supper -- dinner , in Lichfield , when not a formal entertainment , is eaten at two in the afternoon -- that he fell a-speculating as to whether Her eyes , after all , could be fitly described as purple . Was n't there a grayer luminosity about them than he had at first suspected ? -- was n't the cool glow of them , in a word , rather that of sunlight falling upon a wet slate roof ? It was a delicate question , an affair of nuances , of almost imperceptible graduations ; and in debating a matter of such nicety , a man must necessarily lay aside all petty irritation , such as being nettled by an irrational nickname , and approach the question with unbiased mind .