six o’clock
Secretary , Mrs. Weller '' ; and when I got home there was the committee a-sittin ' in our back parlour . Fourteen women ; I wish you could ha ' heard ` em , Sammy . There they was , a-passin ' resolutions , and wotin ' supplies , and all sorts o ' games . Well , what with your mother-in-law a-worrying me to go , and what with my looking for ' ard to seein ' some queer starts if I did , I put my name down for a ticket ; at six o'clock on the Friday evenin ' I dresses myself out wery smart , and off I goes with the old ` ooman , and up we walks into a fust-floor where there was tea-things for thirty , and a whole lot o ' women as begins whisperin ' to one another , and lookin ' at me , as if they 'd never seen a rayther stout gen ' l 'm 'n of eight-and-fifty afore . By and by , there comes a great bustle downstairs , and a lanky chap with a red nose and a white neckcloth rushes up , and sings out , `` Here 's the shepherd a-coming to wisit his faithful flock ; '' and in comes a fat chap in black , vith a great white face , a-smilin ' avay like clockwork . Such goin 's on , Sammy ! `` The kiss of peace , '' says the shepherd ; and then he kissed the women all round , and ven he 'd done , the man vith the red nose began .