four o'clock in
the afternoon
Then Sir Marmaduke , with considerable solemnity , led the way up to the most deserted room in the club , and Colonel Osborne followed him , well knowing that something was to be said about Emily Trevelyan . Sir Marmaduke seated himself on a sofa , and his friend sat close beside him . The room was quite deserted . It was four o'clock in the afternoon , and the club was full of men . There were men in the morning-room , and men in the drawing-room , and men in the card-room , and men in the billiard-room ; but no better choice of a chamber for a conference intended to be silent and secret could have been made in all London than that which had induced Sir Marmaduke to take his friend into the library of `` The Acrobats . '' And yet a great deal of money had been spent in providing this library for `` The Acrobats . '' Sir Marmaduke sat for awhile silent , and had he sat silent for an hour , Colonel Osborne would not have interrupted him .