eleven o'clock
Polly and Eleanor had not attended an auction since the days in Paris , and neither of them had ever heard of , or witnessed a back-farm country auction , so they were not prepared for what they really experienced . Carl was detailed to drive them , that day , and Mrs. Fabian escorted them , in the seven-passenger car . They took the turnpike road as far as White Plains and then turned to the left to follow a country road that would lead past the farm . The sale was advertised for eleven o'clock , but the girls did not arrive on the premises until twelve . Still no auctioneer was to be seen or heard . Groups of farmers stood around , gossiping about their crops that season , and their wives sat indoors exchanging notes on canning , new neighbors , or babies . Polly gazed curiously at the types assembled for that sale , and whispered to Eleanor : `` Would n't you say these farmers had been picked up from Oak Creek ranches and dropped down here in this front door-yard ? ''