about three o'clock
Mr. Slope was madly in love but hardly knew it . The Signora spitted him , as a boy does a cockchafer on a cork , that she might enjoy the energetic agony of his gyrations . And she knew very well what she was doing . Mr. Slope having added to his person all such adornments as are possible to a clergyman making a morning visit -- such as a clean necktie , clean handkerchief , new gloves , and a _ soupçon _ of not unnecessary scent -- called about three o'clock at the doctor 's door . At about this hour the signora was almost always alone in the back drawing-room . The mother had not come down . The doctor was out or in his own room .