About five o'clock
He felt that he could afford to smile . A few minutes later he was ensconced on the sofa of a private sitting room reviewing the incident , with much gusto , for the benefit of Mr. Isaac D. Worthington and Mr. Alexander Duncan . Both of these gentlemen laughed heartily , for the Honorable Heth Sutton knew the art of telling a story well , at least , and was often to be seen with a group around him in the lobbies of Congress . About five o'clock that afternoon Ephraim was sitting in his shirt-sleeves by the window of his room , and Cynthia was reading aloud to him an article -LRB- about the war , of course -RRB- from a Washington paper , which his friend , Mr. Beard , had sent him . There was a knock at the door , and Cynthia opened it to discover a colored hall-boy with a roll in his hand . `` Mistah Ephum Prescott ? '' he said .