seven
o'clock
That could n't be . '' The school-feast was fixed , three weeks in advance , for the Wednesday in Whitsun week , and during the interval there were many small meteorologists in Beechdale school intent upon the changes of the moon , and all those varied phenomena from which the rustic mind draws its auguries of coming weather . The very crowing of early village cocks was regarded suspiciously by the school children at this period ; and even the harmless domestic pussy , sitting with his back to the fire , was deemed a cat of evil omen . It happened that the appointed Wednesday was a day on which Mrs. Tempest had chosen to invite a few friends in a quiet way to her seven o'clock dinner ; among the few Captain Winstanley , who had taken Mrs. Hawbuck 's cottage for an extended period of three months . Mrs. Tempest had known all about the school-feast a fortnight before she gave her invitations , but had forgotten the date at the moment when she arranged her little dinner . Yet she felt offended that Violet should insist upon keeping her engagement to the Scobels . `` But , dear mamma , I am of no use to you at our parties , '' pleaded Vixen ; `` if I were at all necessary to your comfort I would give up the school-feast . ''