six
o'clock
`` And you hold high festival on it ? '' `` Well , we can not do much . Marcus and I always go to the early service , that is how we begin the day , and then he always has some little present on the breakfast table . It is the one day in the year we always dine with Aunt Madge ; she is such an invalid , you see , that very little tires her ; but on Christmas Day , we first dine with her quietly , and have an early tea , then come home ; we are generally back by six o'clock , and have a long evening by ourselves . Do you spend Christmas Day quite alone , Mr. Gaythorne ? '' `` Yes , quite alone , '' he returned , gloomily ; `` but I have plenty of ghosts to visit me , '' and his face twitched , and he stooped over the pictures as he spoke . `` It is in men as in soils -- where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of . ''