seven in the evening
`` Oh , Lord ! '' he said when he saw them , and his jaw dropped . `` Get out of the way , you young idiot , '' said Morris , `` and call the cook . '' It was half-past seven in the evening , that is , dinner time , and Morris stood in the study waiting for Stella , who had announced through the housemaid that she was coming down . After telling the servants to send for the doctor and attend to his companion , who had insisted upon being led straight to her father 's room , Morris 's first act that morning on reaching home was to take a bath as hot as he could bear . Then he drank several cups of coffee with brandy in it , and as the office would soon be open , wrote a telegram to Mary , which ran thus : `` If you hear that I have been drowned , do n't believe it . Have arrived safe home after a night at sea . ''