eleven
o’clock
`` Thaddeus ! '' she cried , `` there 's something wrong in this house ; my best table-cloth is missing , our dessert-spoons are gone , and what do you suppose has happened ? '' `` I do n't know -- a volcano has developed in the cellar , I suppose , '' said Thaddeus . `` No , '' said Bessie , `` it is n't as bad as that ; but the ice-cream man has telephoned up to know whether we want the cream for dinner or for eleven o'clock , according to the order as he understands it . '' `` Well , '' said Thaddeus , `` I do n't see anything very unusual in an ice-cream man 's needing to be told three or four times what is expected of him . '' `` But I never ordered any cream at all , '' said Bessie . `` Ah , '' said Thaddeus , `` that 's different .