ten o'clock
Singularly enough , but not unusual with him , he never resumed the topic . I had taken pains to hide my work from his observing eyes ; and how he knew it , unless he lay silently and watched me from his little bed , when I worked at early dawn in mine , I never could conjecture . A few days later Mrs. Clayton announced to me that Mr. Bainrothe would call very shortly . It was early morning , I remember , when she laid before me the card of `` Basil Bainrothe , '' with its elaborate German characters , on which was written , in pencil , the addendum , `` Will call at ten o'clock ; '' and , punctual as the hand to the hour , he knocked at the dressing-room door at the appointed time , and was admitted . He entered with that light , jaunty step peculiar to him , and which I have consequently ever associated in others with impudence and guile . Hat and cane in the left hand , he entered ; two fingers of the right raised to his lips , by way of salutation -LRB- he clinched his glove in the remainder -RRB- , to be offered to me later , and ignored completely , then waved carelessly , as if condoning the offense . He was quite a picture as he came in -- a fashion-plate , and as such I coolly regarded him -- fresh , fair , and smiling , looking younger , if possible , than when we parted a year before , and handsome , as that much-abused word goes , in his debonair , off-hand style of appearance .