five o'clock
Lady Adela would go with them , and she wrote to beg that Constance , so soon as her term was over , might bring Amice thither , to be in a separate lodging at first , till there had been time to see whether the little girl 's company would be a solace or a trial to the bereaved parents . Bertha , as soon as the chief anxiety was over , joined Mrs. Bury in a mountaineering expedition . She declared that she had never dared to leave Cea before , lest the wretched father , now proved to be a myth , should come and abstract the child . There was a crash in Mrs. Morton 's kitchen , where an elegant five o'clock tea was preparing , not only to greet Herbert , who had just come home to await the news of his fate after the last military examination open to him , but also for a friend or two of his mother 's , who , to his great annoyance , might be expected to drop in on any Wednesday afternoon . Every one ran out to see what was the matter , and the maid was found picking up Mrs. Morton 's silver teapot , the basket-work handle of which had suddenly collapsed under the weight of tea and tea-leaves . The mistress 's exclamations and objurgation of the maid for not having discovered its frail condition need not be repeated . It had been a wedding-present , and was her great pride .