five minutes to eight
`` There 's plenty of time , Aunt Frances . '' That Aunt Frances _ was _ a Personage was made apparent by certain exterior evidences . One knew it by the set of her fine shoulders , the carriage of her head , by the diamond-studded lorgnette , by the string of pearls about her neck , by the osprey in her white hair , by the golden buckles on her shoes . `` It is five minutes to eight , '' said Aunt Frances , `` and Gordon is waiting down-stairs with his best man , the chorus is freezing on the side porch , and _ everybody _ has arrived . I do n't see _ why _ you are waiting -- '' `` We are waiting for it to be eight o'clock , Aunt Frances , '' said Mary . `` At just eight , I start down in front of Constance , and if you do n't hurry you and Aunt Isabelle wo n't be there ahead of me . '' The amber train slipped and glimmered down the polished steps , and the golden buckles gleamed as Mrs. Clendenning , panting a little and with a sense of outrage that her nervous anxiety of the preceding moment had been for naught , made her way to the drawing-room , where the guests were assembled .