nine o'clock before
In the drawing-room , Mrs. Charteris 's civilities kept Honora occupied , while she saw Owen bursting with some request , and when at length he succeeded in claiming her attention , it was to tell her of his cousin 's offer to take him out shooting , and his elder uncle 's proviso that it must be with her permission . He had gone out with the careful gamekeeper at Hiltonbury , but this was a different matter , more trying to the nerves of those who stayed at home . However , Honora suspected that the uncle 's opinion of her competence to be trusted with Owen would be much diminished by any betrayal of womanly terrors , and she made her only conditions that he should mind Uncle Kit , and not go in front of the guns , otherwise he would never be taken out again , a menace which she judiciously thought more telling than that he would be shot . By and by Mr. Charteris came to discuss subjects so interesting to her as a farmer , that it was past nine o'clock before she looked round for her children . Healthy as Lucilla was , her frame was so slight and unsubstantial , and her spirits so excitable , that over-fatigue or irregularity always told upon her strength and temper ; for which reason Honor had issued a decree that she should go to bed at nine , and spend two hours of every morning in quiet employment , as a counterbalance to the excitement of the visit . Looking about to give the summons , Honor found that Owen had disappeared . Unnoticed , and wearied by the agricultural dialogue , he had hailed nine o'clock as the moment of release , and crept off with unobtrusive obedience , which Honor doubly prized when she beheld his sister full of eagerness , among cousins and gentlemen , at the racing game .