two o'clock
`` THE Golden Star , '' Homburg , was a humble hotel , not used by gay gamblers , but by modest travelers . At two o'clock , one fine day in June , there were two strangers in the _ salle a ' manger , _ seated at small tables a long way apart , and wholly absorbed in their own business . One was a lady about twenty-four years old , who , in the present repose of her features , looked comely , sedate , and womanly , but not the remarkable person she really was . Her forehead high and white , but a little broader than sculptors affect ; her long hair , coiled tight , in a great many smooth snakes , upon her snowy nape , was almost flaxen , yet her eyebrows and long lashes not pale but a reddish brown ; her gray eyes large and profound ; her mouth rather large , beautifully shaped , amiable , and expressive , but full of resolution ; her chin a little broad ; her neck and hands admirably white and polished . She was an Anglo-Dane -- her father English .