about
four o'clock
I started on this journey to the country with all possible delight , little surmising the agonies that lay in store for me in the mercifully hidden future . The tapestries were perfect , and Lady Veratrum was most amiable and affable , though the blue blood of the Belladonnas courses in her veins , and her great-grandfather was the celebrated Earl of Rhus Tox , who rendered such notable service to his sovereign . We roamed through the splendid apartments , inspected the superb picture-gallery , where scores of dead-and-gone Cimicifugases -LRB- most of them very plain -RRB- were glorified by the art of Van Dyck , Sir Joshua , or Gainsborough , and admired the priceless collections of marbles and cameos and bronzes . It was about four o'clock when we were conducted to a magnificent apartment for a brief rest , as we were to return to London at half-past six . As Lady Veratrum left us , she remarked casually , ` His Grace will join us at tea . ' The door closed , and at the same moment I fell upon the brocaded satin state bed and tore off my hat and gloves like one distraught . `` Hilda , '' I gasped , `` you brought me here , and you must rescue me , for I absolutely decline to drink tea with a duke . ''