five o'clock
Had Fontenoy 's speech been so fine , after all ? Were politics -- was anything -- quite worth while ? It seemed to him that all emotions were small , all crises disappointing . The following Sunday , somewhere towards five o'clock , George rang the bell of the Maxwells ' house in St. James 's Square . It was a very fine house , and George 's eye , as he stood waiting , ran over the facade with an amused , investigating look . He allowed himself the same expression once or twice in the hall , as one mute and splendid person relieved him of his coat , and another , equally mute and equally unsurpassable , waited for him on the stairs , while across a passage beyond the hall he saw two red-liveried footmen carrying tea . `` When one is a friend of the people , '' he pondered as he went upstairs , `` is one limited in horses but not in flunkeys ?