one o'clock
`` Heyday ! '' said Miss Vernon , `` the genial Justice must have dined already -- I did not think it had been so late . '' It was even so . Mr. Inglewood 's appetite having been sharpened by his official investigations , he had antedated his meridian repast , having dined at twelve instead of one o'clock , then the general dining hour in England . The various occurrences of the morning occasioned our arriving some time after this hour , to the Justice the most important of the four-and-twenty , and he had not neglected the interval . `` Stay you here , '' said Diana . `` I know the house , and I will call a servant ; your sudden appearance might startle the old gentleman even to choking ; '' and she escaped from me , leaving me uncertain whether I ought to advance or retreat .