noon
If beside his addiction to alcohol Mr. Gavel had a weakness , it was the equally British one of worshipping a title . Flattered by the honest baronet 's invitation , he had met it almost more than half-way ; and had dispatched six of his shabbiest horses to Birmingham to be repainted for the fete , and labelled `` Kitchener , '' `` Bobs , '' `` Cecil Rhodes , '' `` Doctor Jim , '' `` Our Joe , '' and `` Strathcona '' -- names -LRB- as he observed -RRB- altogether more up to date than the `` Black Prince , '' `` Brown Bess , '' `` Saladin , '' and others they superseded . Respect for his patron had further prompted Mr. Gavel , on the morning of the fete , to don a furred overcoat , and to swear off drink for the day . This abstinence , laudable in itself , disastrously affected his temper , and brought him before noon into wordy conflict with his engineer . The quarrel , suppressed for the time , flamed out afresh in the afternoon , and , unfortunately , at a moment when Sir Elphinstone , as chairman , was introducing the star orator from London . Opprobrious words had reached the ears of the company gathered on the platform , and Sir Elphinstone had interrupted his remarks about Bucking Up and Thinking Imperially to send a policeman through the crowd with instructions to stop that damned brawling . If the great Napoleon may be forgiven for losing his temper when at five in the afternoon from the slope of La Belle Alliance he watched the Prussians breaking through the opposite woods , while Grouchy yet tarried , let it be pleaded in excuse for Mr. Gavel that ever since eleven a.m. he had been awaiting the arrival of his six newly-painted horses .