two o'clock
When he heard in the morning how they had fared , he at once sought the commander , and by a shrewd exaggeration of the Merediths ' relations with Howe , supplemented by some guineas , secured the banishment of enough officers from the house to restore to the Drinkers two of their rooms . To contribute to their entertainment , as well as to their comfort , he brought them word that Colonel Rahl , by his favour , bid them all to a Christmas festival the following day ; and when Mr. and Miss Drinker refused to have aught to do with an unknown German , and possibly Papistical , if not devilish orgy , he obtained the rescinding of this veto by pointing out how unwise it would be to offend a man on whom their comfort for the winter so much depended . It was , as it proved , a very novel and wonderful experience to the girls . After the two o'clock dinner which the invading force had compelled the town to adopt , the three regiments of Anspach , Lossberg , and Rahl , and the detachments of the Yagers and light horse , with beating drums and flying colours , paraded from one end of the town to the other , ending with a review immediately in front of the Drinkers ' house . Following this the regimental bands of hautboys played a series of German airs which the now disbanded rank and file joined in vocally . Then , as night and snow set in , a general move was made indoors , at Rahl 's quarters , to the parlour , where a tall spruce tree , brilliant with lighted tallow dips , and decorated with bits of coloured paper , red-tinted eggs , and not a little of the recent plunder , drew forth cries of admiration from both Janice and Tabitha , neither of whom had ever seen the like . After a due enjoyment of the tree 's beauty , the gifts were distributed ; and then the company went to the dining-room , where the table sagged with the best that barnyard and pantry could be made to produce , plus a perfect forest of bottles , -- tall , squat , and bulbous .