twelve o'clock
On one wall there was a sea-piece by Courbet , and upon another a river landscape , with rosy-tinted evening sky , by Corot . The chimney-piece was set out with a large gilt timepiece , and candelabra in Dresden china . Hubert had bought these works of art on the occasion of his last visit to London , about two months ago . It was twelve o'clock . He had finished reading his second act , and the reading had been a bitter disappointment . The idea floated , pure and seductive , in his mind ; but when he tried to reduce it to a precise shape upon paper , it seemed to escape in some vague , mysterious way . Enticingly , like a butterfly it fluttered before him ; he followed like a child , eagerly -- his brain set on the mazy flight .