Noon
The misty , grey dawn was slowly breaking along the distant hills , when Grenard Pike , mounted upon a cart-horse which he had borrowed for the occasion , leisurely paced down the broad avenue of oaks that led through the park to the high road . Methodical in all his movements , though life and death depended upon his journey , for no earthly inducement but a handsome donation in money would Grenard Pike have condescended to quicken his pace . This Elinor had it not in her power to bestow ; and she calculated with impatience the many hours which must elapse before such a tardy messenger could reach Norgood Hall . Noon was the earliest period within the range of possibility ; yet the sound of the horse 's hoofs , striking against the frosty ground , still vibrated upon her ear when she took her station at the chamber window , to watch for the arrival of the man whose image a separation of nearly twenty years had not been able to obliterate from her heart . Such is the weakness of human nature , that we suffer imagination to outspeed time , and compress into one little moment the hopes , the fears , the anticipations , and the events of years ; but when the spoiler again overtakes us , we look back , and , forgetful of our former impatience to accelerate his pace , we are astonished at the rapidity of his flight . Elinor thought that the long day would never come to a close ; yet it was as dark and as short as a bleak , gloomy day in November could be . Evening at length came , but brought no Algernon .