six o'clock
Esther and Catherine found relief and amusement in the bustle of preparation . If Esther was still a little feverish and excited , she was able to throw it off in work . She was no longer an object of pity ; it was her uncle and aunt who deserved deepest compassion . What worse shock was possible for an elderly , middle-aged New York lawyer than to return to his house at six o'clock and find that he is to have barely time for his dinner and cigar before being thrust out into the cold and hideous darkness of a February night , in order to travel some four hundred miles through a snow-bound country ? It is true that he had received some little warning to arrange his affairs for an absence over Saturday , but at best the blow was a severe one , and he bore it with a silent fortitude which wrung his wife 's heart . She was a masterful mistress , but she was good to those who obeyed , and she even showed the weakness of begging him not to go , although in her soul she knew that he must . `` After all , John , you need n't go with us .