a quarter to five
For , above all , she had made a point of always being at home in time for Majendie 's return from his office . At five o'clock she was ready for him , beside her tea-table , irreproachably dressed . Her friends complained that they had lost sight of her . Regularly at a quarter to five she would forsake the drawing-rooms of Thurston Square . However absorbing Mrs. Eliott 's conversation , towards the quarter , the tender abstraction of Anne 's manner showed plainly that her spirit had surrendered to another charm . Mrs. Eliott , in letting her go , had the air of a person serenely sane , indulgent to a persistent and punctual obsession . Anne divided her friends into those who understood and those who did n't .