eight o'clock
Eve Dodd is a merry girl . She comes and amuses me when you are not here , and David , by all accounts , is a fine young fellow , and as modest as a girl of fifteen ; they will make me laugh , especially Eve , and it would be hard at my age , I think , if I might not ask whom I like -- to tea . '' `` So it would , '' put in Lucy , hastily ; she added , coaxing , `` it shall have its own way -- it shall have what makes it laugh . '' Long before eight o'clock the Fountains had forgotten that they had invited the Dodds . Not so Eve . She was all in a flutter , and hesitated between two dresses , and by some blessed inspiration decided for the plainest ; but her principal anxiety was , not about herself , but about David 's deportment before the Queen of Fashion , for such report proclaimed Miss Fountain . `` And those fine ladies are so satirical , '' said Eve to herself ; `` but I will lecture him going along . ''