six o'clock
But to one accustomed to the sedate jog-trot of farm horses taken from the plow to hitch to the capacious carry-all , the ten-mile-an-hour gait of the new motor seemed exhilarating flight . The day had the deceptive stillness by which nature disguises the ferocious intensity of her spring-time activities . Bird , beast and insensate clod all felt the challenge of the season . Persis had responded characteristically by cleaning house from six o'clock till noon and making a dress for Betty in the interval which less strenuous natures devote to afternoon naps . And now that Celia was off somewhere with Joel , and Betty had promised to look after the baby , and the boys had received permission to inspect a family of puppies newly arrived in the neighborhood , Persis was scurrying hither and thither with all the ebullient light-heartedness of a girl let out of school . She had startled the staid residents of Twin Rivers , where the spectacle of a woman driving a car ranked in interest second only to a circus parade . She had frightened two horses and narrowly escaped running over a chicken .