About fifteen minutes before seven
`` Oh , mamma , you promised ! '' `` Well , I will , but I ought n't . '' Every evening until long after Lilly 's dresses had descended to her shoe tops and until the ritual came to have a distinctly ridiculous aspect , there took place the one pleasantry in which Lilly and her father ever indulged . About fifteen minutes before seven , three staccato rings would come at the front-door bell . At her sewing or what not , Mrs. Becker would glance up with birdlike quickness . `` That 's papa ! '' And Lilly , almost invariably curled over a book , would jump up and take stand tensely against the wall so that when the room door opened it would swing back , concealing her .