About four o'clock
`` Oh , he would do it -- he could do that , at all times . God be wid you , Darby , till I see you in the evenin ' . `` _ Bannaght lhath _ , Denis , an ' I 'm proud we 're as we ought to be . '' About four o'clock , the expected guests began to assemble at Denis 's ; and about the same hour one might perceive Susan O'Shaughnessy running out to a stile a little above the house , where she stood for a few minutes , with her hand shadingher eyes , looking long and intensely towards the direction from which she expected her brother to return . Hitherto , however , he could not be discovered in the distance , although scarcely five minutes elapsed during the intervals of her appearance at the stile to watch him . Some horsemen she did notice ; but after straining her eyes eagerly and anxiously , she was enabled only to report , with a dejected air , that they were their own friends coming from a distant part of the parish , to be present at the dinner . At length , after a long and eager look , she ran in with an exclamation of delight , saying -- `` Thank goodness , he 's comin ' at last ; I see somebody dressed in black ridin ' down the upper end of Tim Marly 's boreen , an ' I 'm sure an ' certain it must be Denis , from his dress ! ''