Five o'clock
Why should he not go and call on Mrs. Tree ? here he was at the house . It was the hour when in cities the sophisticated clustered about five o'clock tea-tables , and tested the comfort of various chairs , and indulged in talk as thin as the china and bread and butter . Five o'clock tea was unknown in Elmerton , but Mrs. Tree would be glad to see him , and he always enjoyed a crack with her . He turned in at the neat gate . The house stood well back from the street , in the trimmest and primmest little garden that ever was seen . Most of the shrubs were as old as their owner , and had something of her wrinkled sprightliness ; and the annuals felt their responsibilities , and tried to live up to the York and Lancaster rose and the strawberry bush .