about four o'clock
Marcella tried to school her boy in vain . Hallin chattered , laughed , broadened his a 's and dropped all his h 's into a bottomless limbo none the less . What days of joy those Saturdays were for mother and child ! All the morning and till about four o'clock , he and she would be inseparable , trailing about together over field and wood , she one of the handsomest of women , he one of the plainest of children -- a little square-faced chubby fellow , with eyes monstrously black and big , fat cheeks that hung a little over the firm chin , a sallow complexion , and a large humorous mouth . But in the late afternoon , alas ! Hallin was apt to find the world grow tiresome . For against all his advice `` mummy '' would allow herself to be clad by Annette , the maid , in a frock of state ; carriages would drive up from the 5.10 train ; and presently in the lengthening evening the great lawns of the Court would be dotted with strolling groups , or the red drawing-room , with its Romneys and Gainsboroughs , would be filled with talk and laughter circling round mummy at the tea-table ; so that all that was left to Hallin was that seat on mummy 's knee -- his big , dark head pressed disconsolately against her breast , his thumb in his mouth for comfort -- which no boy of any spirit would ever consent to occupy , so long as there was any chance of goading a slack companion into things better worth while .