two o'clock
She was consequently prepared to extend a warm welcome to her young visitor , and , for her husband 's sake , to do as much to make her visit pleasant as if she had been the lawful daughter of her husband 's late friend and client , Colonel Eden . Nevertheless , after the days she had spent with Mary , Fan did not find Mrs. Travers ' society exhilarating . The lady had given up walking , except a very little in the garden , but on most days she went out for carriage exercise in the morning , after Mr. Travers had gone to town . At two o'clock the ladies would lunch , after which Fan would be alone until the five o'clock tea , when her hostess would reappear in a gay dress , and a lovely carmine bloom on her cheeks -- the result of her refreshing noonday slumbers . After tea they would spend an hour together in the garden talking and reading . Mrs. Travers , having bad eyesight , accepted Fan 's offer to read to her . She read nothing but periodicals -- short social sketches , smart paragraphs , jokes , and occasionally a tale , if very short , so that Fan found her task a very light one .