three
o'clock in the afternoon
Heedless of what she was doing , she rushed down the garden path , and found her way into the street in the near distance . A boy was selling newspapers . She bought one , and hurried back to the house . She had no idea of the lapse of time , did not realise that it was now three o'clock in the afternoon . She had come by a slow train from Manchester , and Paul 's mother had been sleeping for hours . Eagerly she opened the paper , and there , great staring headlines met her gaze . For a long time she was absorbed by what she read .