Six o'clock
Mrs. Emery heroically assured her , `` I do n't want you to be influenced by thinking about my feelings , Lydia . Above everything in the world , I do n't want you to feel the _ slightest _ pressure from me -- or any one of the family . Oh , darling , all I want -- all any of us want , is what is best for our little Lydia ! '' Six o'clock had struck when Mrs. Sandworth came wearily back from her Christmas shopping . It was only the middle of November , but each year she began her preparations for that day of rejoicing earlier and earlier , in a vain attempt to avoid some of the embittering desolation of confusion and fatigue which for her , as for all her acquaintances , marked the December festival . She let herself down heavily from the trolley-car which had brought her from the business part of Endbury back to what was known as the `` residential section , '' a name bestowed on it to the exclusion of several other much larger divisions of town devoted exclusively to the small brick buildings blackened by coal smoke in which ordinary people lived . As she walked slowly up the street , her arms were full of bundles , her heart full of an ardent prayer that she might find her brother either out or in a peaceable mood .