nearly four o'clock
The children had already done a good deal to the arbour where we were to have tea ; but grandmamma 's chair was still waiting to be decorated , so the next hour was spent very happily in gathering branches of ivy and other pretty green things to twine about it , with here and there a bunch of flowers , which Mrs. Nestor had told the gardener we were to have . Vallie was very anxious to make a wreath for grandmamma , but though I thought it a very nice idea , I was afraid it would look rather funny , and when Sharley reminded us that wreaths could n't be worn very well above a bonnet , we quite gave it up . But we did make the table look very pretty , and at last everything was ready , except the tea itself and the hot cakes , which of course the servants would bring at the very end . By the time we had finished it was nearly four o'clock , and we were not to have tea till half-past , so there was time for a nice game of hide-and-seek among the trees . I do n't think I ever ran so fast or laughed so much in my life . They were all such good-natured children , even if they did have little quarrels they were soon over , and then I think they were all especially kind to me . I suppose they were sorry for me in some ways that did not come into my own mind at all .