four o'clock in the afternoon
`` Yes , '' was all Allen answered . Then something happened that for a time drove the mystery from their minds . It was after a particularly long and hard day , when the girls had been entertaining at the Hostess House all morning and part of the afternoon . Then about three or four o'clock in the afternoon , they had gone downtown to do some very necessary shopping , and had been unable to get back to dinner till seven o'clock ; and that evening the boys had arranged to take them to the theater . By the time it was all over , and the boys had left them at the Hostess House , they were very , very tired and very , very happy . `` I never felt so sleepy in my life , '' said Grace , sitting down on the edge of the bed and stretching her arms above her head . `` And yet we 've had such a good time .