the eight o'clock twilight
` Oho ! ' said the Doctor , surprised . ` There 's to be a grand parade with the Whitford division , ' he answered ; and no more was said . Not till the eight o'clock twilight of the dripping August evening did the family reassemble . Ethel had been preparing for a journey that Mary and Gertrude were to make to Maplewood ; and she did not come down till her father had returned , when following him into the drawing-room , she heard his exclamation , ` Winter again ! ' For the fire was burning , Tom was sitting crumpled over it , with his feet on the fender , and his elbows on his knees , and Aubrey in his father 's arm-chair , his feet over the side , so fast asleep that neither entrance nor exclamation roused him ; the room was pervaded with an odour of nutmeg and port wine , and a kettle , a decanter , and empty tumblers told tales . Now the Doctor was a hardy and abstemious man , of a water-drinking generation ; and his wife 's influence had further tended to make him -- indulgent as he was -- scornful of whatever savoured of effeminacy or dissipation , so his look and tone were sharp , and disregardful of Aubrey 's slumbers .