nearly eight o’clock
He gave a sigh to the great men he had then let them see and hear , and regretted the less that there was no possibility of regaling the present pair with a debate . It was all like a dream to the two girls . They saw , but suspense was throbbing in their hearts all the time , and qualms were crossing Gillian as she recollected that in some aspects her father could be rather a terrible personage when one was wilfully careless , saucy to authorities , or unable to see or confess wrong-doing ; and the element of dread began to predominate in her state of expectation . The bird in the bosom fluttered very hard as the possible periods after the arrivals of trains came round ; and it was not till nearly eight o'clock that the decisive halt of wheels was heard , and in a few moments Mysie was in the dearest arms in the world , and Gillian feeling the moustached kiss she had not known for nearly four long years , and which was half-strange , half-familiar . In drawing-room light , there was the mother looking none the worse for her journey , her clear brown skin neither sallow nor lined , and the soft brown eyes as bright and sweet as ever ; but the father must be learnt over again , and there was awe enough as well as enthusiastic love to make her quail at the thought of her record of self-will . There was , however , no disappointment in the sight of the fine , tall soldierly figure , broad shouldered , but without an ounce of superfluous flesh , and only altered by his hair having become thinner and whiter , thus adding to the height of his forehead , and making his very dark eyebrows and eyes have a different effect , especially as he was still pallid beneath the browning of many years , though he declared himself so well as to be ashamed of being invalided . Time was short .