about five o’clock
triumphed Mrs. Vervain . `` I suppose it 's what you would call a wild goose chase , -- I used to pick up all those phrases , -- but we shall carry it through . '' Ferris gasped , as though about to speak , but said nothing . `` Don Ippolito 's been here the whole afternoon , '' continued Mrs. Vervain , `` or rather ever since about five o'clock . He took dinner with us , and we 've been talking it over and over . He 's _ so _ enthusiastic about it , and yet he breaks down every little while , and seems quite to despair of the undertaking . But Florida wo n't let him do that ; and really it 's funny , the way he defers to her judgment -- you know _ I _ always regard Florida as such a mere child -- and seems to take every word she says for gospel .