four o'clock
`` It is indeed , '' said Mrs. Davilow , able to assent with quiet cheerfulness , for she was so well satisfied with the actual situation of affairs that her habitual melancholy in their general unsatisfactoriness was altogether in abeyance . I am not concerned to tell of the food that was eaten in that green refectory , or even to dwell on the stories of the forest scenery that spread themselves out beyond the level front of the hollow ; being just now bound to tell a story of life at a stage when the blissful beauty of earth and sky entered only by narrow and oblique inlets into the consciousness , which was busy with a small social drama almost as little penetrated by a feeling of wider relations as if it had been a puppet-show . It will be understood that the food and champagne were of the best -- the talk and laughter too , in the sense of belonging to the best society , where no one makes an invidious display of anything in particular , and the advantages of the world are taken with that high-bred depreciation which follows from being accustomed to them . Some of the gentlemen strolled a little and indulged in a cigar , there being a sufficient interval before four o'clock -- the time for beginning to rove again . Among these , strange to say , was Grandcourt ; but not Mr. Lush , who seemed to be taking his pleasure quite generously to-day by making himself particularly serviceable , ordering everything for everybody , and by this activity becoming more than ever a blot on the scene to Gwendolen , though he kept himself amiably aloof from her , and never even looked at her obviously . When there was a general move to prepare for starting , it appeared that the bows had all been put under the charge of Lord Brackenshaw 's valet , and Mr. Lush was concerned to save ladies the trouble of fetching theirs from the carriage where they were propped . He did not intend to bring Gwendolen 's , but she , fearful lest he should do so , hurried to fetch it herself .