three o'clock in the
afternoon
Since Helen has been better , numbers of ladies have called , so beautifully dressed , and so gentle-mannered and reserved , one so very like the other , that they might have all been brought up at the same school . They never appear to confide in each other , but make a talk , after their own calm fashion , about small things . Still , when they talk , _ they do not say much _ , considering how highly bred they are . I have listened throughout an entire morning -LRB- a fashionable morning , Edward , does not begin until three o'clock in the afternoon -RRB- , and really could not remember a single observation made by a drawing-room full of ladies . _ We _ could not talk ten minutes with dear Mr. Stokes , without hearing something that we could not help remembering all the days of our lives . It is wonderful how superior Helen is -LRB- I am not afraid to tell you so -RRB- to every one around her ; there is a natural loftiness of mind and manner visible in her every movement , that carries off her want of those pretty accomplishments which the ladies value so highly . And then she is _ so _ beautiful , and her husband is so proud of having the handsomest woman in London for his wife ; and one artist begs to model her ear , another her hand -- you can not think how fair and soft and ` do-nothing ' it looks , -- and as to her portraits , they are in all those pretty painted books which Mr. Stokes calls ` vanities . '