five o'clock
Mis ' Postmaster Sykes issued `` written invites to an evening party , hot supper and like that , '' as Friendship communicated it , to be given on the very night of Emerel 's début . Friendship was shaken . Never in the history of the village had two social affairs been set for the same hour . Indeed , more than one hostess had postponed an impending tea-party or thimble party or `` afternoon coffee '' or `` five o'clock supper '' on hearing that another was planned for the same day . And now , when there were those of us anxious to `` do something nice '' for hard-working little Mrs. Ricker , the Sykeses had deliberately sought the forbidden ground . And Society dare not deny Mis ' Sykes , for besides `` being who she was '' -LRB- `` She 's the leader in Friendship if they _ is _ a leader , '' we said , emphatically implying that there was none -RRB- , she kept two maids , -- little young thing and a _ rill _ hired girl , -- entertained `` above the most , '' put out her sewing and wore , we kept in the back of our minds , a bar pin , solid , with `` four solitaires '' in it . And , `` Oh , you know , '' Calliope Marsh admitted to me later , `` Mis ' Sykes is rilly a great society woman .