three in the afternoon
`` My mother says it is n't so . '' But somehow they did not seem to fortify themselves much with these protestations . Some of the elder cousins had come to visit and take tea . People went visiting by three in the afternoon and carried their work along . There was an atmosphere of relationship and real living that gave a certain satisfaction . You enjoyed it . It was not paying a social debt reluctantly , relieved to have it over , but a solid , substantial pleasure .