six o'clock
And yet she made her children uncomfortable by causing them to feel that it was unnatural and wrong that they did not care more for their mother . This was especially true of Edith , who tried to satisfy her conscience , as we have seen , by bringing costly presents and delicacies that were seldom needed or appreciated . Edith soon became so oppressed by her mother 's sighs and silence and the heavy perfumed air , that she sprang up , and pressing a remorseful kiss on the white thin face , said : `` I must dress for dinner , mamma : I will send your maid , '' and vanished also . The dining-room at six o'clock wore a far more cheerful aspect than the invalid 's room upstairs . It was furnished in a costly manner , but more ostentatiously than good taste would dictate . You instinctively felt that it was a sacred place to the master of the house , in which he daily sacrificed to one of his chosen deities . The portly colored waiter , in dress coat and white vest , has just placed the soup on the table , and Mr. Allen enters , supporting his wife .