nine o'clock
`` Dear Anne used to say that she took after her mother , '' said Aunt Laura ; to which Aunt Ellen replied : `` I have not a word to say against Nina ; she has been a good wife to dear Edward , though we all thought at the time of their marriage that he might have looked higher . But compared with our nephew , quiet and unassuming as she is , she has very little character , while Cicely _ has _ character . No , sister , Cicely is a Clinton -- a Clinton through and through . '' Family prayers at Kencote took place at nine o'clock , breakfast nominally at a quarter past , though there was no greater interval between the satisfaction of the needs of the soul and those of the body than was necessary to enable the long string of servants to file out from their seats under the wall , and the footmen to return immediately with the hot dishes . The men sat nearest to the door and frequently pushed back to the dining-room against the last of the outflowing tide ; for the Squire was ready for his breakfast the moment he had closed the book from which he had read the petition appointed for the day . If there was any undue delay he never failed to speak about it at once . This promptness and certainty in rebuke , when rebuke was necessary , made him a well-served man , both indoors and out .