Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/192



The first Taylors had always dined at noon—the logical time for man and beast to leave off work for rest and refreshment—but each high-born lady who had married into the family had succeeded in pushing the dinner hour back a little until at the time of Rebecca's advent the dinner hour was at half-after-two. Spottswood grumbled at the lateness of this meal, as it did not fit in at all with a farmer's day, but the ladies of the household contended that it was the height of vulgarity to dine earlier and even wanted Aunt Testy to change the hour to three o'clock, but half-after-two suited Aunt Testy and half-after-two it remained.

Miss Evelyn and Miss Myra could cite many instances to show that three was the hour of dining for all true aristocrats. At noon, when the farm bells throughout the countryside pealed forth the glad tidings that the hour of rest and food had come, they felt a certain satisfaction that they were not as others were. Their farm bell did not ring. To be sure, hands must be