four p.m.
Mr Tremayne , who had occasion to journey to Exeter , came back armed at all points with fresh tidings of what was doing in the world ; and as such live newspapers supplied all that was to be had , every body in Bodmin immediately asked him to dinner . Mr Tremayne declined the majority of the invitations ; but he accepted that from Bradmond , which included his family also . So he , in a brown velvet suit , and Custance in the gravest drab , and Arbel with some bright blue ribbons neutralising her sober `` sad-coloured '' dress , and Robin , whose cap bore a white feather stuck in it in a style not suggestive of Quakerism , walked up to Bradmond one Thursday afternoon , to four-hours . It is scarcely needful to explain that four-hours was a meal taken at four p.m. , and in style and custom corresponding to the `` afternoon tea '' now in vogue . It may be more desirable to indicate of what it consisted , seeing that tea and coffee were yet mysteries of the future . There were cakes of all varieties ; there was clotted cream ; and of course there was junket . There were apple puffs , and syllabubs , and half-a-dozen different kinds of preserves .