two o'clock
And Sir Gregory Gribe had been obstinate , beyond the ordinary obstinacy of a bank director . The rate of discount at the bank could not be settled for to-morrow without communication with Mr. Melmotte , and that was a matter on which the details were always most oppressive . At first Mr. Longestaffe was somewhat stunned by the Deputation and Sir Gregory Gribe ; but as he waxed wroth the potency of those institutions dwindled away , and as , at last , he waxed hungry , they became as nothing to him . Was he not Mr. Longestaffe of Caversham , a Deputy-Lieutenant of his County , and accustomed to lunch punctually at two o'clock ? When he had been in that waiting-room for two hours , it occurred to him that he only wanted his own , and that he would not remain there to be starved for any Mr. Melmotte in Europe . It occurred to him also that that thorn in his side , Squercum , would certainly get a finger into the pie to his infinite annoyance . Then he walked forth , and attempted to see Grendall for the fourth time .