nine o'clock
`` There 's only myself and Melinda here , '' she said with sublime naivete ; `` and the children ai n't old enough to be corrupted . I am satisfied if you are , Seth , '' and she again looked at him inquiringly . `` Go ahead , then , and get ready for 'em , '' said Seth , hurrying away with unaffected relief . `` If you have everything fixed by nine o'clock , that 'll do . '' Mrs. Rivers had everything `` fixed '' by that hour , including herself presumably , for she had put on a gray dress which she usually wore when shopping in the county town , adding a prim collar and cuffs . A pearl-encircled brooch , the wedding gift of Seth , and a solitaire ring next to her wedding ring , with a locket containing her children 's hair , accented her position as a proper wife and mother . At a quarter to nine she had finished tidying the parlor , opening the harmonium so that the light might play upon its polished keyboard , and bringing from the forgotten seclusion of her closet two beautifully bound volumes of Tupper 's `` Poems '' and Pollok 's `` Course of Time , '' to impart a literary grace to the centre table .