four o'clock
Of Mr. Douce , Lord Vargrave had seen but little ; they were not thrown together . But Lord Vargrave , who thought every rich man might , some time or other , become a desirable acquaintance , regularly asked him once every year to dinner ; and twice in return he had dined with Mr. Douce , in one of the most splendid villas , and off some of the most splendid plate it had ever been his fortune to witness and to envy ! -- so that the little favour he was about to ask was but a slight return for Lord Vargrave 's condescension . He found the banker in his private sanctum , his carriage at the door ; for it was just four o'clock , an hour in which Mr. Douce regularly departed to Caserta , as his aforesaid villa was somewhat affectedly styled . Mr. Douce was a small man , a nervous man ; he did not seem quite master of his own limbs : when he bowed he seemed to be making you a present of his legs ; when he sat down , he twitched first on one side , then on the other , thrust his hands into his pockets , then took them out , and looked at them , as if in astonishment , then seized upon a pen , by which they were luckily provided with incessant occupation . Meanwhile , there was what might fairly be called a constant play of countenance : first he smiled , then looked grave ; now raised his eyebrows , till they rose like rainbows , to the horizon of his pale , straw-coloured hair ; and next darted them down , like an avalanche , over the twinkling , restless , fluttering , little blue eyes , which then became almost invisible . Mr. Douce had , in fact , all the appearance of a painfully shy man , which was the more strange , as he had the reputation of enterprise , and even audacity , in the business of his profession , and was fond of the society of the great .