three o'clock
`` You see , dear , how well it was to give that little hint about the Reveres and the Abraham Peabodys , '' she said . Clover felt dreadfully dishonest ; but she dared not confess that she had forgotten all about the hint , still less that she had never meant to give one . `` The better part of valor is discretion , '' she remembered ; so she held her peace , though her cheeks glowed guiltily . At three o'clock they set forth in a light roomy carriage , -- not exactly a carryall , but of the carryall family , -- with a pair of fast horses , Miss Chase and Phil cantering happily alongside , or before or behind , just as it happened . The sun was very hot ; but there was a delicious breeze , and the dryness and elasticity of the air made the heat easy to bear . The way lay across and down the southern slope of the plateau on which the town was built . Then they came to splendid fields of grain and `` afalfa , '' -- a cereal quite new to them , with broad , very green leaves .