nine o'clock
The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose . I care nothing for your five o'clock tea of modish drawing-rooms , idle and wearisome like all else in which that world has part ; I speak of tea where one is at home in quite another than the worldly sense . To admit mere strangers to your tea-table is profanation ; on the other hand , English hospitality has here its kindliest aspect ; never is friend more welcome than when he drops in for a cup of tea . Where tea is really a meal , with nothing between it and nine o'clock supper , it is -- again in the true sense -- the _ homeliest _ meal of the day . Is it believable that the Chinese , in who knows how many centuries , have derived from tea a millionth part of the pleasure or the good which it has brought to England in the past one hundred years ? I like to look at my housekeeper when she carries in the tray . Her mien is festal , yet in her smile there is a certain gravity , as though she performed an office which honoured her .