seven o'clock
The envious would hardly be able to conceive that people who gave so magnificently to charity could have done anything really deserving of censure ; no , no . Or , if such people imaginably had , then certainly the only thing to do was to forget all about it as quickly as possible ... . So agreeably musing , Mrs. Heth arrived at the door of the House , and received upon the threshold the great surprise of her life . It was almost seven o'clock , so long had she lingered to enjoy and capitalize the reverberations of her triumph . Yet Carlisle , singularly enough , was discovered standing in the hall , still in her hat and gloves , just as she had left the reception an hour earlier . Full as Mrs. Heth was of her own engrossing thoughts , her daughter 's expression at once notified her that she , too , had news of some sort to communicate . `` Well , Carlisle ?