half past four
But the Moretons did quarrel -- more bitterly than ever before , and that is saying a great deal . With the extraordinary tenacity of memory that develops under strong emotion , they each contrived to recall and to mention everything which the other had done that was wrong , ridiculous , or humiliating since their earliest days . They parted with the impression on David 's part that Ben thought him a self-indulgent grafter , and on Ben 's side that David thought him a bully solely interested in imposing his will on those unfortunate enough to be dependent on him . It was after half past four when , having walked up five flights of stairs , he let himself into his modest flat on the top floor of an old-fashioned brownstone house . As he opened the door , he called , `` Nora ! '' No beautiful partner of a free-love affair appeared , but an elderly woman in spectacles who had once been Professor Moreton 's cook , and now , doing all the housework for Ben , contrived to make him so comfortable that the editor of a more radical paper than his own had described the flat as `` a bourgeois interior . '' `` Nora , '' said Ben , `` put something in my bag for the night -- I 'm going to Newport in a few minutes . ''