two o'clock
No matter what she was doing , she always appeared trim and neat , and in the lover-like expression of her husband 's eyes , as they often followed her , she had her reward . She was not deceived by the semi-torpid condition of the household , and knew well what would be expected in a Fourth-of-July dinner . Nor was she disappointed . The tinkle of the bell at two o'clock awakened unusual animation , and then she had her triumph . Leonard beamed upon a hind-quarter of lamb roasted to the nicest turn of brownness . A great dish of Champion-of-England pease , that supreme product of the kitchen-garden , was one of the time-honored adjuncts , while new potatoes , the first of which had been dug that day , had half thrown off their mottled jackets in readiness for the feast . Nature had been Maggie 's handmaid in spreading that table , and art , with its culinary mysteries and combinations , was conspicuously absent .