four o'clock
He resolved to go to work on the picture at once ; he had set his palette for it ; but first he looked at Fulkerson 's check . It was for only fifty dollars , and the canny Scotch blood in Beaton rebelled ; he could not let this picture go for any such money ; he felt a little like a man whose generosity has been trifled with . The conflict of emotions broke him up , and he could not work . The day wasted away in Beaton 's hands ; at half-past four o'clock he went out to tea at the house of a lady who was At Home that afternoon from four till seven . By this time Beaton was in possession of one of those other selves of which we each have several about us , and was again the laconic , staccato , rather worldlified young artist whose moments of a controlled utterance and a certain distinction of manner had commended him to Mrs. Horn 's fancy in the summer at St. Barnaby . Mrs. Horn 's rooms were large , and they never seemed very full , though this perhaps was because people were always so quiet . The ladies , who outnumbered the men ten to one , as they always do at a New York tea , were dressed in sympathy with the low tone every one spoke in , and with the subdued light which gave a crepuscular uncertainty to the few objects , the dim pictures , the unexcited upholstery , of the rooms .