six o'clock
` Just as you like , my dear , ' she said . There ensued an awkward silence , which Lydia at length broke by speech on some wholly different subject . Mary with difficulty adapted herself to the change ; tea was finished rather uncomfortably . It was six o'clock . Lydia , hearing the hour strike , knew that Ackroyd would be waiting at the end of Walnut Tree Walk . She was absent-minded , halting between a desire to go at once , and tell him that they could not come , and a disinclination not perhaps very clearly explained . The minutes went on .