four o'clock
He had often in jest threatened to repeat the episode of the serenade , but she never realized that beneath the jest there was any deeper meaning . Now she was aware of that meaning in her every fibre , physical and spiritual . `` Aileen Mavoureen , the gray dawn is breaking -- '' And hearing that , realizing that the voice was calling for her alone in all the world , she rose ; dressed herself quickly ; beckoned joyously to him from the window ; noiselessly made her way down the back stairs ; softly unbolted the kitchen porch door -- He was there with hands outstretched for hers ; she placed them in his , and again , in remembrance of their fun and frolic seven years before , he raced with her down the slate-laid garden walk , across the lawn to the boat house where his own boat lay moored . It was four o'clock on that warm midsummer morning . The mists lay light but impenetrable on the surface of the lake . The lilies were still closed . They spoke but little .