About five o'clock
Again he looked into her sweet eyes , and he knew that from his soul he believed in her . That whatever circumstances entangled her they were not of her choosing , and that whatever mysteries enmeshed her the web was not of her weaving . Some business matters connected with his profession occupied the greater part of Hayden 's time for the next day or so ; but in his first moments of leisure , he hastened to look up Kitty Hampton . About five o'clock of a raw winter afternoon , he stopped at her house , intending under a pretense of a craving for hot tea to win Kitty to speech of her friend Marcia . Well-simulated shivers , a reference to the biting air , would secure his cousin 's solicitude , then , at perhaps the third cup , he would in a spontaneous burst of confidence confess to a more than passing interest . This would at once gain Kitty 's warm if unstable attention , her impulsive sympathy , and -- . At this moment , the severe and forbidding butler informed him that Mrs. Hampton was not at home , was out of town , and all further inquiries were met by a polite and non-committal `` I do n't know , sir . ''