five
o'clock
`` So he ought , sir , '' said the verger , who was ready to agree to anything Mr. Dunbar might say ; `` if he had only to go to the Ferns , sir , he might have been back by this time easy . '' `` I 'll smoke a cheroot while I wait for him , '' the banker said , passing out into the quadrangle ; `` he 's sure to come to this door to look for me -- I gave him particular orders to do so . '' Henry Dunbar finished his cheroot , and another , and the cathedral clock chimed the three-quarters after seven , but Joseph Wilmot had not come back from the Ferns . The verger waited upon his patron 's pleasure , and lingered in attendance upon him , though he would fain have gone home to his tea , which in the common course he would have taken at five o'clock . `` Really this is too bad , '' cried the banker , as the clock chimed the three-quarters ; `` Wilmot knows that I dine at eight , and that I expect him to dine with me . I think I have a right to a little more consideration from him . I shall go back to the George .