six
o'clock
The sight of him , and the glimpse of the free and open land , stirred in her the misery of her days and the yearning for the loveliness of the world without , converse of friends , hope of the sufficiency of desire , and the sweetness of love returned . And so strong a wave of anguish swept over her , that she bowed her down upon the grass and wept bitterly . Yet but a little while it lasted ; she rose up presently and looked warily all round her , and up to the Castle , and saw none stirring ; she drew up the skirts of her green gown into her girdle , till the hem but just hid her knees ; then she stepped lightly through the half-open door with flushed cheeks and glittering eyes , while her heart rose within her ; then she lifted her hand , unhitched the reins from the iron ring , and quietly led the horse close under the garth-wall , and stole gently up the slope which , as all roads from the Castle , went straightway toward the thicket , but this was the straightest . So she went , till she came to the corner of the garth-wall , and a little further ; and the Castle on that side was blind , save for the swale on the battlement , whereon in that deep peace was little going ; and , moreover , it was not even yet six o'clock . There then she stayed the horse , and , flushed and panting , got lightly into the saddle and bestrode it , and , leaning over on the beast 's neck , smote his flanks with her heels ; the horse was fresh , though his master had been weary , whereas the said messenger had gotten him from a forester some six miles away in the wood that morning , so the nag answered to her call for speed , and she went a great gallop into the wood , and was hidden in a twinkling from any eyes that might be looking out of the Castle . Without checking the nag she sped along , half mad with joy at the freedom of this happy morn . Nigh aimless she was , but had an inkling that it were well with her if she could hold northward ever ; for the old man aforesaid had told her of Oakenrealm , and how it lay northward of them ; so that way she drifted as the thicket would suffer her .