six o'clock
Winterborne , in his modesty , or indifference , had mentioned no particular hour in his invitation ; and accordingly Mr. Melbury and his family , expecting no other guests , chose their own time , which chanced to be rather early in the afternoon , by reason of the somewhat quicker despatch than usual of the timber-merchant 's business that day . To show their sense of the unimportance of the occasion , they walked quite slowly to the house , as if they were merely out for a ramble , and going to nothing special at all ; or at most intending to pay a casual call and take a cup of tea . At this hour stir and bustle pervaded the interior of Winterborne 's domicile from cellar to apple-loft . He had planned an elaborate high tea for six o'clock or thereabouts , and a good roaring supper to come on about eleven . Being a bachelor of rather retiring habits , the whole of the preparations devolved upon himself and his trusty man and familiar , Robert Creedle , who did everything that required doing , from making Giles 's bed to catching moles in his field . He was a survival from the days when Giles 's father held the homestead , and Giles was a playing boy . These two , with a certain dilatoriousness which appertained to both , were now in the heat of preparation in the bake-house , expecting nobody before six o'clock .