five o'clock
`` Well , yes . '' `` What do you think ? Last night I was so sick about the whole thing that I was ready to give it all up , but now I wonder if it is n't our duty to give it one more trial . '' Her words were disappointing , but the dispirited tone in which she said them was cheering , and Tom made so bold as to sing the lately revived `` Duty , duty must be done , the rule applies to everyone , and painful though the duty be , to shirk the task were fiddle-dee-dee ... '' ; a happy impulse , for when Henry arrived from his five o'clock he found Tom at the piano and Nancy sitting by him , the one in the rôle of the Mikado of Japan and the other as his daughter-in-law-elect . When , however , on the following Tuesday they again climbed down from the fourth floor of the Whitman building , the light had indeed gone out of the undertaking . Mr. Sprig 's subject , the digestive and excretory tracts , had not been a propitious one for so critical a time . Leofwin , who had invited himself along , had been captivated by the decorative possibilities of the alimentary canal and had led the discussion following the lecture with a vigour and thoroughness trying for those unfamiliar with an artist 's training .