six o'clock
She had made certain little especial preparations -- picked flowers , herself cut the sandwiches thin , put on her most becoming tea gown . As time passed she became more and more annoyed . She was disappointed not so much at the absence of Ben Sansome as a person as at the waste of her efforts . But at six o'clock , when she had given him up , and was about to change from her tea gown , he came in , full of apologies , very flustered , and bursting with news . `` King was shot on the street by Casey , '' he told her , trying not unsuccessfully for his habitual detached manner . `` I stopped to get the news for you . King is not dead , but probably fatally wounded .