ten o'clock
This had been in accordance with Mr. Colton 's instructions the night before , and they had been carried out to the minute . The papers in the big copper loan , he had told the stock clerk , were to be signed at half-past eleven o'clock the next morning , and he wanted all the business of the preceding day cleaned up and out of the way before the new deal went through . This accomplished , he said to himself , Mr. Eggleston would be able to retire a part if not all of his special capital , and his dear Madeleine , to quote a morning journal , find a place by the side of `` one of the bright young financiers of our time . '' Mr. Eggleston , in tan-colored waistcoat , white gaiters and shiny silk hat , a gold-headed cane in one hand -- the embodiment of a prosperous man of affairs -- also arrived half an hour earlier -- ten o'clock , really , an event that caused some astonishment , for not twice in the whole year had the special partner reached his son 's office so early in the day . Young Eggleston reached his desk a few minutes after his father . His dress was as costly as his progenitor 's , but a trifle more insistent . The waistcoat was speckled with red ; the scarf a brilliant scarlet decorated with a horseshoe set in diamonds , and the shoes patent leather .