ten o’clock
At home he made incessant inquiries for newspapers ; to satisfy him his wife and the maid-servant used to give him an old journal called the `` Indre-et-Loire , '' and for seven years he had never yet perceived that he was reading the same number over and over again . Perhaps a doctor would have observed with interest the connection that evidently existed between the recurring and spasmodic demands for the newspaper and the atmospheric variations of the weather . Usually when his wife had company , which happened nearly every evening , for the neighbors , pitying her situation , would frequently come to play at boston in her salon , Margaritis remained silent in a corner and never stirred . But the moment ten o'clock began to strike on a clock which he kept shut up in a large oblong closet , he rose at the stroke with the mechanical precision of the figures which are made to move by springs in the German toys . He would then advance slowly towards the players , give them a glance like the automatic gaze of the Greeks and Turks exhibited on the Boulevard du Temple , and say sternly , `` Go away ! '' There were days when he had lucid intervals and could give his wife excellent advice as to the sale of their wines ; but at such times he became extremely annoying , and would ransack her closets and steal her delicacies , which he devoured in secret . Occasionally , when the usual visitors made their appearance he would treat them with civility ; but as a general thing his remarks and replies were incoherent .