eleven A.M.
Then she closed the lid of the chest with a sigh . The South dines at four o'clock -- at least Charleston does . It was the old English custom and the old Irish custom , too . In the reign of William the Conqueror people dined at eleven A.M. or was it ten ? Then , as civilisation advanced , the dinner hour stole forward . In the time of the Georges it reached four o'clock . In Ireland , the most conservative country on earth , some people even still sit down to table at four -- in Charleston every one does .