six o’clock in the evening
Although he had every chance of spending his time , during his absence , agreeably as well as profitably , his inexplicable sense of uneasiness at being away from home , remained with him even on the railway ; defying all the exhilarating influences of rapid motion and change of scene , and oppressing him as inveterately as it had oppressed him the night before . Bad , however , as his spirits now were , they would have been much worse , if he had known of two remarkable domestic events , which it had been the policy of his household to keep strictly concealed from him on the day of his departure . When Mr. Blyth 's cook descended the first thing in the morning to air the studio in the usual way , by opening the garden door , she was not a little amazed and alarmed to find that , although it was closed , it was neither bolted nor locked . She communicated this circumstance -LRB- reproachfully , of course -RRB- to the housemaid , who answered -LRB- indignantly , as was only natural -RRB- by reiterating her assertion of the past night , that she had secured the door properly at six o'clock in the evening . Polly , appealing to contradictory visible fact , rejoined that the thing was impossible . Patty , holding fast to affirmatory personal knowledge , retorted that the thing had been done . Upon this , the two had a violent quarrel -- followed by a sulky silence -- succeeded by an affectionate reconciliation -- terminated by a politic resolution to say nothing more about the matter , and especially to abstain from breathing a word in connection with it to the ruling authorities above stairs .