nearly six o'clock
` No , they never went to ride now : they used to , but they came in so fatigued that they could not talk to Emily ; so they had given up riding . ' Did they care for driving ? ` Yes , pretty well ; but there was no place to drive to except into Gort , and as people had been unjust enough to say that they were always to be seen in Gort , they had given up driving -- unless , of course , they went to call on friends . ' Then tea was brought in ; and , apropos of a casual reference to conventual buttered toast , the five girls talked , until nearly six o'clock , of their girlhood -- of things that would never have any further influence in their lives , of happiness they would never experience again . At last Alice and Cecilia pleaded that they must be going home . As they walked across the fields the girls only spoke occasionally . Alice strove to see clear , but her thoughts were clouded , scattered , diffused .