five o'clock
In the years that followed they did come back to the big woods , but not every year , for in the beginning of their life together there were hard times , and troubled times , when even a fortnight 's irresponsibility and ease was not possible . Yet they came often enough to keep fresh in their hearts the memory of great spaces and great silences , and to dream their old dreams . The great earthquake brought them home hurriedly from their honeymoon , and Susan had her work to do , amid all the confusion that followed the uprooting of ten thousand homes . Young Mrs. Oliver listened to terrible stories , while she distributed second-hand clothing , and filed cards , walked back to her own little kitchen at five o'clock to cook her dinner , and wrapped and addressed copies of the `` Protest '' far into the night . With the deeper social problems that followed the days of mere physical need , -- what was in her of love and charity rushed into sudden blossoming , -- she found that her inexperienced hands must deal . She , whose wifehood was all joy and sanity , all sweet and mysterious deepening of the color of life , encountered now the hideous travesty of wifehood and motherhood , met by immature , ill-nourished bodies , and hearts sullen and afraid . `` You ought not be seeing these things now , '' Billy warned her .