five o'clock
Her scheme of seclusion -- of a quiet party which , contenting themselves with their own society , should seek for no other amusement than was comprised within the resources of the Grange -- had been already rudely broken in upon . And now she was confronted by an arrangement which her son had entered into without consulting her . On entering the breakfast-room she found Jim explaining the programme of the day , -- how they were all to lunch at the mess of the -- th regiment and witness the athletic sports of Rockcliffe camp . `` Cold collation all over the camp , five o'clock tea , fresh air , fun and flirtation , society and sunshine ; if all that does not realize ` a dream of fair women , ' well , then , I know nothing about them , '' were the first words that greeted Lady Mary 's ear . Lady Mary Bloxam was no weak vacillating woman -- a woman , on the contrary , wont to carry her point , and who contrived to have her own way , perhaps , rather more than most people ; but she saw at once that it would be hopeless to stem the tide upon this occasion . With all her guests on a lovely spring day anxious to attend an entertainment not three miles off , what was there to be said ? No possible pretext could be devised for preventing them .