six o'clock
`` Where is Mr. Wilkinson ? '' asked Mrs. Carruthers , in concern . `` We have lost them for a little while , '' replied the ladies , cheerfully . So they changed their things , unpacked their trunks , dispensed many gifts , brought through all sorts of custom houses , and assembled in the drawing-room to await the stated six o'clock tea . The clock was on the stroke , when they all heard singing , on the road , of two male voices : -- For , be it early morning , Or be it late at night , Cheerily ring our footsteps , Right , left , right ! Then two jovial pedestrians came swinging through the gate , with the old knapsacks on their backs , and newly cut staves in their hands . They responded heartily to the varied salutations of the company , and , as each bowed himself over the woman he loved best , they said : `` God has been very good to us , and has sent us more than a marshal 's baton through these two knapsacks . ''