four in the afternoon
Mentally she braced herself , holding back with all her fine , hard-tempered , native strength . No , she would not yield the life to the Enemy ; no , she would not give up ; no , she would not recede . Let the Enemy do his worst -- she was strong against his efforts . At Medford , which she reached toward four in the afternoon , after an hour 's ride from the City , she found a conveyance waiting for her , and was driven rapidly through streets bordered with villas and closely shaven lawns to a fair-sized country seat on the outskirts of the town . The housekeeper met her at the door with the information that the doctor was , at the moment , in the sick-room , and had left orders that the nurse should be brought to him the moment she arrived . The housekeeper showed Lloyd the way to the second landing , knocking upon the half-open door at the end of the hall , and ushering her in without waiting for an answer . Lloyd took in the room at a glance -- the closely drawn curtains , the screen between the bed and the windows , the doctor standing on the hearth-rug , and the fever-inflamed face of the patient on the pillow .