three o'clock
About half-past one he said to himself : `` I 'll give her a guinea to spend as she likes . '' It did genuinely seem to him a vast sum . A guinea to fritter away ! However , towards three o'clock its vastness had shrunk . `` Dashed if I do n't give the wench a fiver ! '' he exclaimed . It was madness , but he had an obscure feeling that he might have had more amusement if he had begun being mad rather earlier in life .