six
o'clock
Miss Georgie Lancaster , at twenty-eight , was still very girlish and gay , and she shared with her mother and sisters the curious instinctive acquisitiveness of the woman who , powerless financially and incapable of replacing , can only save . Moments went by , a quarter-hour , a half-hour , and still Susan sat hunched up stupidly over her book . It was not an interesting magazine , she had read it before , and her thoughts ran in an uneasy undercurrent while she read . `` I ought to be doing my hair -- it must be half-past six o'clock -- I must stop this -- '' It was almost half-past six when the door opened suddenly , and a large woman came in . `` Well , hello , little girlie ! '' said the newcomer , panting from the climb upstairs , and turning a cold , fresh-colored cheek for Susan 's kiss . She took off a long coat , displaying beneath , a black walking-skirt , an elaborate high collar , and a view of shabby corset and shabby corset-cover between .