about three o'clock in the afternoon
`` Well , we ca n't buy 'em to-night anyway , '' said Lucretia . `` I must light the candles an ' lock up . '' The next day was Christmas . It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when old Mrs. Emmons went up the road to the Raymond house . She had a little parcel . When she came into the sitting-room there was young Lucretia in a corner , so that the room should not get in a mess , with her wealth around her . She looked forth , a radiant little mother of dolls , from the midst of her pretty miniature house-keeping .