six o'clock
But at other times , when he swept a room , or dusted Master William 's curios , he looked -- like nothing so much as what he was : a fussy , faithful old man , who expected to die in the service he had entered fifty years before as a lad . Thus in all the Beacon Street house , there had not for years been the touch of a woman 's hand . Even Kate , the married sister , had long since given up trying to instruct Dong Ling or to chide Pete , though she still walked across the Garden from her Commonwealth Avenue home and tripped up the stairs to call in turn upon her brothers , Bertram , William , and Cyril . It was on the six o'clock delivery that William Henshaw received the letter from his namesake , Billy . To say the least , the letter was a great shock to him . He had not quite forgotten Billy 's father , who had died so long ago , it is true , but he had forgotten Billy , entirely . Even as he looked at the disconcerting epistle with its round , neatly formed letters , he had great difficulty in ferreting out the particular niche in his memory which contained the fact that Walter Neilson had had a child , and had named it for him .