noon
All of Friendship society which intended to accept Mis ' Sykes 's invitation hastened with relieved eagerness to follow with flowers its regrets to the `` comen out recep . '' For every one was genuinely attached to the little laundress and interested in her welfare -- up to the point of sacrificing social interests in the eyes of the Sykeses . Friendship gardens were rich with Autumn , cosmos and salvia and opulent asters , and on the morning of the two parties this store of sweetness was rifled for the débutante . By noon Mrs. Ricker and Kitton was saying in awe , `` Nobody in Friendship ever had this many flowers , dead , or alive , or rich . '' And although some of us grieved that Mis ' Postmaster Sykes had shown what she named her good-will by ordering from the town a pillow of white carnations -LRB- but with no `` wording '' -RRB- , Mrs. Ricker and Kitton received even this suggestive token with simple-hearted delight . `` It 'll look lovely on the lamp shelf , '' she observed . `` I 've often planned how nice my parlour 'd trim up for a funeral . ''