four o'clock
`` She 's _ disgracefully _ ugly ! -- I saw her quite close , '' says Mr. Kelly , in an injured tone . `` I wonder what on earth Madam O'Connor means by asking her here , where she can be nothing but a blot upon a perfect landscape ; all the rest of us are so lovely . '' It is four o'clock , and hopelessly wet . The soft rain patters on the leaves outside , the grass and all the gardens are drowned in Nature 's tears . There can be no lounging on sunny terraces , no delicious dreaming under shady beech-trees , this lost afternoon . Giving in to the inevitable with a cheerful resignation worthy of record , they have all congregated in the grand old hall , one of the chief glories of Aghyohillbeg .