three o'clock
I may be vain , but I 'm not quite vain enough for that , sir ! '' `` Do n't worry , '' her husband had laughed . `` I 'll be here . '' As it chanced , however , something occurred an hour before half-past three o'clock that drove every thought of Miss Winthrop 's call from Billy 's head . For three days , now , Pete had been at the home of his niece in South Boston . He had been forced , finally , to give up and go away . News from him the day before had been anything but reassuring , and to-day , Bertram being gone , Billy had suggested that Eliza serve a simple luncheon and go immediately afterward to South Boston to see how her uncle was .