about a quarter before five
The usual Sunday dinner-hour at Todgers 's was two o'clock -- a suitable time , it was considered for all parties ; convenient to Mrs Todgers , on account of the bakers ; and convenient to the gentlemen with reference to their afternoon engagements . But on the Sunday which was to introduce the two Miss Pecksniffs to a full knowledge of Todgers 's and its society , the dinner was postponed until five , in order that everything might be as genteel as the occasion demanded . When the hour drew nigh , Bailey junior , testifying great excitement , appeared in a complete suit of cast-off clothes several sizes too large for him , and in particular , mounted a clean shirt of such extraordinary magnitude , that one of the gentlemen -LRB- remarkable for his ready wit -RRB- called him ` collars ' on the spot . At about a quarter before five , a deputation , consisting of Mr Jinkins , and another gentleman , whose name was Gander , knocked at the door of Mrs Todgers 's room , and , being formally introduced to the two Miss Pecksniffs by their parent who was in waiting , besought the honour of conducting them upstairs . The drawing-room at Todgers 's was out of the common style ; so much so indeed , that you would hardly have taken it to be a drawingroom , unless you were told so by somebody who was in the secret . It was floor-clothed all over ; and the ceiling , including a great beam in the middle , was papered . Besides the three little windows , with seats in them , commanding the opposite archway , there was another window looking point blank , without any compromise at all about it into Jinkins 's bedroom ; and high up , all along one side of the wall was a strip of panes of glass , two-deep , giving light to the staircase .