two o'clock
Also she kept in her armoury the weapon which can be so mightily effective if used sparingly by a really sincere individual -- the knowledge of when to be a humbug . Ambition entered to a certain extent into her life , and governed it perhaps rather more than she knew . She desired to escape from the doom of being a nonentity , but the escape would have to be effected in her own way and in her own time ; to be governed by ambition was only a shade or two better than being governed by convention . The drawing-room in which she and Ronnie were sitting was of such proportions that one hardly knew whether it was intended to be one room or several , and it had the merit of being moderately cool at two o'clock on a particularly hot July afternoon . In the coolest of its many alcoves servants had noiselessly set out an improvised luncheon table : a tempting array of caviare , crab and mushroom salads , cold asparagus , slender hock bottles and high-stemmed wine goblets peeped out from amid a setting of Charlotte Klemm roses . Cicely rose from her seat and went over to the piano . `` Come , '' she said , touching the young man lightly with a finger-tip on the top of his very sleek , copper-hued head , `` we 're going to have picnic-lunch to-day up here ; it 's so much cooler than any of the downstairs rooms , and we sha n't be bothered with the servants trotting in and out all the time .