four
o'clock
Whether she continued to hope even now for his return could not be distinctly ascertained ; at all events she lived a life unmodified in the slightest degree from that of the first six months of his absence . This twelfth year of Laura 's loneliness , and the thirtieth of her life drew on apace , and the season approached that had seen the unhappy adventure for which she so long had suffered . Christmas promised to be rather wet than cold , and the trees on the outskirts of Laura 's estate dripped monotonously from day to day upon the turnpike-road which bordered them . On an afternoon in this week between three and four o'clock a hired fly might have been seen driving along the highway at this point , and on reaching the top of the hill it stopped . A gentleman of middle age alighted from the vehicle . ` You need drive no farther , ' he said to the coachman . ` The rain seems to have nearly ceased .