seven o'clock
On the whole the drawing-room did not so very much matter , because visitors seldom went into it when the Miss Polkingtons were not there ; and when they were , no one but a jealous woman would have noticed that the furniture was rather slight , and there were no flowers except those in obvious places . There was only one Miss Polkington in the drawing-room that wintry afternoon -- Julia , the middle one of the three , the only one who could not fill even a larger room to the complete obliteration of furniture and fitments . Julia was not pretty , therefore she was seldom to be found in the drawing-room alone ; she knew better than to attempt to occupy that stage by herself . But it was now almost seven o'clock , too late for any one to come ; also , since there was no light but the fire , deficiencies were not noticeable . She felt secure of interruption , and stood with one foot on the fender , looking earnestly into the fire . That day had been an important one to the Polkingtons ; Violet , the eldest of the sisters , had that afternoon accepted an offer of marriage from the Reverend Richard Frazer . The young man had not left the house an hour , and Mrs. Polkington was not yet returned from some afternoon engagement more than half , but already the matter had been in part discussed by the family .