four to six in the afternoon
The Old Hall has not always been managed thus economically , it is easy to see , and Miss Llewellyn-Joyce speaks with the utmost candour of her poverty , as indeed the ruined Irish gentry always do . I well remember taking tea with a family in West Clare where in default of a spoon the old squire stirred his cup with the poker , a proceeding apparently so usual that he never thought of apologising for it as an oddity . The Hall has a lodge , which is a sort of miniature Round Tower , at the entrance gate , and we see nothing for it but to import a brass-buttoned boy from the nearest metropolis , where we must also send for a second maid . `` That 'll do when you get him , '' objected Benella , `` though boys need a lot of overseeing ; but as nobody can get in or come out o ' that gate without help , I shall have to go to the lodge every day now , and set down there with my sewin ' from four to six in the afternoon , or whenever the callin ' hours is . When I engaged with you , it was n't for any particular kind of work ; it was to make myself useful . I 've been errand-boy and courier , golf-caddie and footman , beau , cook , land agent , and mother to you all , and I guess I can be a lodge-keeper as well as not . '' Francesca had her choice of residing either with Salemina or with me , during our week of separation , and drove in my company to Rosaleen Cottage , to make up her mind .