nearly five o'clock
She and her husband are distant cousins of the Bradfords , and my helpers indoors and out , for I am too old to manage farm hands , especially now that they are mostly Slavs , and it makes Horace feel happier to have kinsfolk here than if I trusted to transient service . '' So we sipped the well-made breakfast tea beneath the cherry blossoms as I told her about my boys and Miss Lavinia 's expected visit . When father called for me I left reluctantly , feeling as if nobody need be without a family , when one becomes necessary , for in addition to an aunt in Lavinia Dorman I had found a sort of spirit grandmother there in the remote and peaceful highlands , -- a woman at once simple and restful , yet withal having no narrowness or crudity to cramp or jar . It was nearly five o'clock when we turned into the highway west of the Bluffs . We had gone but a few rods when a great clanking of chains and jar of wheels sounded behind . As I stretched out to see what was coming , a horn sounded merrily . `` A coaching party , '' said father .