nearly four o'clock
A shrill bell , pealing gaily through the wood , summoned them to luncheon ; a fairy banquet spread upon the grass under a charmed circle of beeches ; chicken-pies and lobster-salads , mayonaise of salmon and daintily-glazed cutlets in paper frills , inexhaustible treasure of pound-cake and strawberries and cream , with a pyramid of hothouse pines and peaches in the centre of the turf-spread banquet . And for the wines , there were no effervescent compounds from the laboratory of the wine-chemist -- Lady Laura 's guests were not thirsty cockneys , requiring to be refreshed by `` fizz '' -- but delicate amber-tinted vintages of the Rhineland , which seemed too ethereal to intoxicate , and yet were dangerous . And for the more thirsty souls there were curiously compounded `` cups : '' hock and seltzer ; claret and soda-water , fortified with curaçoa and flavoured artistically with burrage or sliced pine-apple . The banquet was a merry one ; and it was nearly four o'clock when the ladies had done trifling with strawberries and cream , and the gentlemen had suspended their homage to the Rhineland . Then came a still more desultory wandering of couples to and fro among the shadowy intricacies of the wood ; and Clarissa having for once contrived to get rid of the inevitable Captain , who had been beguiled away to inspect some remote grotto under convoy of Barbara Fermor , was free to wander alone whither she pleased . She was rather glad to be alone for a little . Marley Wood was not new to her .