one o'clock
She was especially interested , too , in Leslie , the eighteen-year-old daughter that her brother Theodore had left to his mother 's care ; in fact , between the mother and daughters , the one granddaughter and two little grandsons , and the two sons-in-law of the Melrose family , a deep bond existed , a bond of pride as well as affection . It was one of their favourite boasts that to the Melroses the unity and honour of the family was the first consideration in the world . But to-day Mrs. Melrose could not stay . At one o'clock she left Alice to be put into her prettiest robe by the devoted Miss Slater , saw with satisfaction that preparations for tea were noiselessly under way , called Regina , odorous of tea and mutton chops , from the pantry , and went out into the quiet cold of the winter noon . The old Melrose house was a substantial , roomy , brownstone building in Madison Avenue , inconspicuous perhaps among several notoriously handsome homes , but irreproachably dignified none the less . A few blocks below it the commercial current of East Thirty-fourth Street ebbed and flowed ; a few blocks north the great façade of the Grand Central Station shut off the street completely . Third Avenue , behind it , swarmed and rattled alarmingly close , and Broadway flared its impudent signs only five minutes ' walk in the other direction , but here , in a little oasis of quiet street , two score of old families serenely held their place against the rising tide , and among them the Melroses confidently felt themselves valued and significant .