two o'clock Monday afternoon
But is not that begging the question ? The measure of impossibilities is lost in the present age . I propose a test . Let us go back a century , and suppose that three problems were laid before the men of that day , and they were asked to decide which is the most impossible : 1st , to diffuse intelligence from a fixed island over a hundred leagues of water ; 2d , to make the sun take in thirty seconds likenesses more exact than any portrait-painter ever took -- likenesses that can be sold for a shilling at fifty per cent profit ; 3d , for New York and London to exchange words by wire so much faster than the earth can turn , that London shall tell New York at ten on Monday morning what was the price of consols at two o'clock Monday afternoon . '' `` That is a story , '' said Helen , with a look of angelic reproach . `` I accept that reply , '' said Hazel . `` As for me , I have got a smattering of so many subjects , all full of incredible truths , that my faith in the impossibility of anything is gone .