half past five
`` Warm tonight , is n't it ? No , thanks , I wo n't have anything to drink -- I 've only just finished supper . By the by , let me apologize for my absence this afternoon . I was most awfully sorry to miss you , but I never got away from Countisford till after half past five , and my mare cast a shoe on the way back . Then I tried to get her shod in Liddiard St. Agnes , which is one of those idyllic villages that people write books about , and there I found an Odd-fellows ' fete in full swing . The village blacksmith was altogether too harmonious for business , so not being able to cuff his head , like your cousin , I was obliged to walk home . `` Really ' ?