eleven A.M.
He took more time to this task , frowning laboriously over the fresh sheet of foolscap , and screening from observation with his hand what he was writing . Finally , the task seemed finished to his mind . He took up the paper , glanced through it once more , and handed it in silence to the other . In silence also , and with an expression of arrested attention , Lord Plowden read these lines : `` The undertaking referred to in the two documents of even date , signed respectively by Lord Plowden and Stormont Thorpe , is to the effect that at some hour between eleven A.M. and three P.M. of September 12th , instant , Lord Plowden shall produce before a special meeting of the Committee of the Stock Exchange , the person of one Jerome P. Tavender , to explain to said Committee his share in the blackmailing scheme of which Lord Plowden , over his own signature , has furnished documentary evidence . '' The nobleman continued to look down at the paper , after the power to hold it without shaking had left his hand . There came into his face , mingling with and vitiating its rich natural hues of health , a kind of grey shadow . It was as if clay was revealing itself beneath faded paint .