Four o’clock
He was attacked with rheumatism in the joints ; and after many useless remedies had been tried , he came home in search of health , which he found , as you have heard , in certain German spas . Mr. Channing watched the clock eagerly . Unless it has been your portion , my reader , to undergo long and apparently hopeless affliction , and to find yourself at length unexpectedly told that there _ may _ be a cure for you ; that another , afflicted in a similar manner , has been restored to health by simple means , and will call upon you and describe to you what they were -- you could scarcely understand the nervous expectancy of Mr. Channing on this afternoon . Four o'clock ! they would soon be here now . A very little time longer , and they were with him -- his family , Mr. Yorke , and Dr. Lamb . The chief subject of anxiety was soon entered upon , Dr. Lamb describing his illness at great length .