four o'clock
She rolled the three words on her tongue as though they were delicious morsels from which she would extract all possible savour and sweetness . And when she did this you could almost hear the click of the stiffening spines of Mrs. Lamb , Mrs. Brunswick , and Mrs. Wormser . For they envied her her son Hugo , and resented him as only three old ladies could who were living , tolerated and dependent , with their married sons and their sons ' wives . Any pleasant summer afternoon at four o'clock you might have seen Mrs. Mandle holding court . The four old women sat , a decent black silk row , on a shady bench in Washington Park -LRB- near the refectory and afternoon coffee -RRB- . Three of them complained about their daughters-in-law . One of them bragged about her son .