four o'clock
`` There were six large sandwiches in that packet , '' she said reproachfully , `` and the apples were beauties . I wish now I had eaten more . I am sure I could have if I had tried . '' Though there was plenty to do in the woods , that hour to tea-time seemed somehow a very long one , and quite ten minutes before it was up they were back at the farm to inquire if it was four o'clock yet . Mrs. Henderson smiled knowingly as she saw them gathered at the door , but she noticed that the eager faces were flushed and weary-looking , and she asked them in to sit down and rest , promising she would not keep them long . As they were to have `` a savour to their tea '' they were to have the meal in the house , instead of in the garden , and glad enough they were to sink into the slippery , springless easy-chairs , which seemed to them then the most luxurious seats the world could produce -- at least they did to Kitty and Dan , who took the only two ; Betty got on the window-seat and stretched herself out ; Tony , a very weary little man indeed , scrambled on to Kitty 's lap ; and all of them , too tired to talk much , gazed with interest about the long , low room . It was not beautiful , and they knew it well , yet the fascination of it never failed .