five o'clock
`` He is my father , -- and as he is going to be your father-in-law I should have thought that you might have been pleased . '' `` Oh , yes ; -- if he likes it . But I have heard so often of the crushing cares of office , and I had thought that of all living men he had been the most crushed by them . '' All that had to be done in the House of Commons on that afternoon was finished before five o'clock . By half-past five the House , and all the purlieus of the House , were deserted . And yet at four , immediately after prayers , there had been such a crowd that members had been unable to find seats ! Tregear and Silverbridge having been early had succeeded , but those who had been less careful were obliged to listen as best they could in the galleries .