three o'clock
But with her grandmother and aunts she had a new attitude of self-confidence , and to her girl friends she was no longer the old intimate and equal , but a being who had , for the moment at least , left them all behind . She would show them the new silver , the new linens , the engagement-time frocks that were in themselves a trousseau , and wish that Doris or Marion or Virginia were engaged , too ; it was such fun ! And with older women , the débutantes of six and eight and ten years ago , who had failed of all this glory , who could only listen sweetly to the chatter of plans and honours , and look in uncomplaining admiration at the blazing ring , Leslie was quite merciless . The number of times that she managed to mention her age , the fact that Madame Modiste had tried to give her fittings after three o'clock under the impression that she was a schoolgirl , and the `` craziness '' of `` little me '' going over all the late Mrs. Liggett 's chests of silver and china , perhaps only these unsuccessful candidates for matrimony could estimate . Certainly Leslie herself was quite unconscious of it , and truly believed what she heard on all sides , that she was `` adorable , '' and `` not changed one bit , '' and `` just as unconscious that there was anything else in the world but Acton , as a little girl with her first doll . '' Christopher and Alice , in the first years of their married life , had built a home at Glen Cove , and Christopher made this his wedding present to his brother . Necessarily , even the handsomest of country homes , if ten years old , needs an almost complete renovation , and this renovation Acton and Leslie , guided by a famous architect , began rapturously to plan , reserving a beautiful apartment not far from Alice in Park Avenue for autumn furnishing and refitting .