half past five
`` Yes , and the foxes -- the white ones , '' said Mary Jane , `` they 're my favorites of all . '' But before they had had time to show Mr. Merrill every single creature they had seen , the Holden boys announced that they were hungry and that it was long past dinner time . And sure enough ! Even though it was n't really long _ past _ dinner time , it _ was _ half past five -- the time they had agreed upon for dinner . So a very jolly party seated themselves at a big round table on a second story porch of the Park restaurant . That was the nicest place to eat Mary Jane had ever seen -- unless perhaps a diner on a train . For after they gave their order , she discovered that they could look right down on a small lake where ducks and geese and swans lived .