ten o'clock
The next letter was from Agnes , begging him to write occasionally to Jack ; the next from Lady Lane , wondering when he was coming to Lashmar . A firm of topical photographers respectfully begged leave to send a representative by appointment to interview Mr. Lane and to enrich their gallery with a few camera-studies of the house and of the author at work . The other letters were invitations and charitable appeals . At ten o'clock he telephoned to ask when he could see Barbara , but was told that she had not yet been called . After two more unsuccessful attempts , he sent a note by hand , inviting himself to tea , and spent the rest of the morning at work on the manuscript of his novel . Shortly before luncheon his interviewer arrived with an assistant bearing a camera , and for half an hour the flat was filled with the smoke and powder of the magnesium flares . Eric submitted sheepishly to being `` discovered '' looking -LRB- in profile -RRB- out of his dining-room window , to being `` interrupted '' at his desk -LRB- three-quarter face -RRB- , to being found taking a moment 's respite for thought and a cigarette -LRB- full face , with his back to the smoking-room fire -RRB- ; finally he was dressed up in hat and coat and shewn to be saying good-bye in the hall .