four o'clock
There in the lane before them , their eyes as keen as foxes , with the scent of curiosity and gossip , their cheeks red with the shame of it , and their lips forming into apologetic and terrified smiles , stood Margaret Bean and two others -- the tavern-keeper 's wife and the wife of the man who kept the village store . For a second the three women fairly cowered beneath Eugene Hautville 's eyes , and Margaret Bean began to stammer as if her old tongue were palsied . Then Eugene collected himself , made them one of his courtly bows , turned to Dorothy with another , offered her his arm , and walked away with her out of the lane , before the eyes of the prying gossips . It was four o'clock that summer afternoon when the three women -- Margaret Bean , the tavern-keeper 's wife , and the storekeeper 's wife -- who had followed Dorothy and Eugene into the lane to pry upon them set forth to communicate by word of mouth the scandalous proceedings they had witnessed ; and long before midnight all the village knew . The women crept cautiously at a good distance behind Dorothy and Eugene out of the lane , and watched , with incredulous eyes turning to each other for confirmation , the pair walk into Parson Fair 's house together . Then they could do no more , since their ears were not long enough , and each went her way to tell what she had seen . All the neighbors knew when Eugene Hautville left Parson Fair 's house that afternoon , but their knowledge stopped there .