seven
o'clock
He hung the hat on a Louis Quatorze screen , and blissfully gazed at it , her creation . ` But I must be careful , ' he muttered -- ` I must be careful . ' A clerk entered with his personal letters . It was scarcely seven o'clock , but these fifteen or twenty envelopes had already been sorted from the three thousand missives that constituted his first post ; he had his own arrangement with the Post-Office . ` So it 's coming at last , ' he said to himself , as he opened an envelope marked ` Private and Confidential ' in red ink . The autograph note within was from Senior Polycarp , principal partner in Polycarps , the famous firm of company-promoting solicitors , and it heralded a personal visit from the august lawyer at 11.30 that day . In the midst of dictating instructions to the clerk , Mr. Hugo stopped and rang for Shawn .