ten o'clock in the morning
Suddenly Mrs Herring said she must be going , and Ada got up to leave . She lurched as she stood , and pushed her chair over with a clumsy movement . `` I b ` lieve I 'm drunk , '' she muttered , with a foolish titter . Mrs PARTRIDGE LENDS A HAND Since ten o'clock in the morning the large house , standing in its own grounds , had been invaded by a swarm of dealers , hook-nosed and ferret-eyed , prying into every corner , searching each lot for hidden faults , judging at a glance the actual value of every piece of furniture , their blood stirred with the hereditary joy in chaffering , for an auction is as full of surprises as a battle , the prices rising and falling according to the temper of the crowd . And they watched one another with crafty eyes that had long lost the power to see anything but the faults and defects in the property of others . Those who had commissions from buyers marked the chosen lots in their catalogue with a stumpy pencil . Mother Jenkins was one of these .