nine
o’clock
Besides , rick-burning and mobs were far too recent for our neighbours to venture out at night . But as we were all resolved that little Anne should have a memorable Christmas at Chantry House , we begged an innocent , though iced cake , from the cook , painted a set of characters ourselves , including all the dolls , and bespoke the presence of Frank Fordyce at a feast in the outer mullion room -- Griff 's apartment , of course . The locality was chosen as allowing more opportunity for high jinks than the bookroom , and also because the swords and pistols in trophy over the mantelpiece had a great fascination for the two sisters , and to ` drink tea with Mr. Griffith ' was always known to be a great ambition of the little queen of the festival . As to the mullion chamber legends , they had nearly gone out of our heads , though Clarence did once observe , ` You remember , it will be the 26th of December ; ' but we did not think this worthy of consideration , especially as Anne 's entertainment , at its latest , could not last beyond nine o'clock ; and the ghostly performances -- now entirely laid to the account of the departed stable-boy -- never began before eleven . Nor did anything interfere with our merriment . The fun of fifty years ago must be intrinsically exquisite to bear being handed down to another generation , so I will attempt no repetition , though some of those Twelfth Day characters still remain , pasted into my diary . We anticipated Twelfth Day because our guests meant to go to visit some other friends before the New Year , and we knew Anne would have no chance there of fulfilling her great ambition of drawing for king and queen .