one o'clock
When he informed the ladies that everything was ready for their reception at their summer home , Aunt Ella said that their departure would have to be delayed for a few days , as the delinquent dressmakers had failed to deliver certain articles of wearing apparel . This argument was , of course , unanswerable , and Quincy devoted the time to visiting the wholesale grocers , as he had promised Strout that he would do , and to buying and shipping a long list of books that Miss Very informed him Miss Pettengill needed for her work . He learned that during his absence the proofs of The Man Without a Tongue had been brought over by Mr. Ernst and read and corrected , Aunt Ella taking Quincy 's place as reader . At last all was ready , and on the tenth of May a party of three ladies and one gentleman was driven to the station in time for the one o'clock train . They had lunched early and the whole party was healthy , happy , and in the best of spirits . Then came the leave-takings . The two young ladies and the gentleman sped away upon the train , while the middle-aged lady started for home in her carriage , telling herself a dozen times on the way that she knew she would be lonesomer than ever when she got there .