a quarter past four in the afternoon
`` About what ? '' `` About Miss Dore . I married her myself last Wednesday , '' said Lord Marshmoreton , and disappeared like a diving duck . At a quarter past four in the afternoon , two days after the memorable dinner-party at which Lord Marshmoreton had behaved with so notable a lack of judgment , Maud sat in Ye Cosy Nooke , waiting for Geoffrey Raymond . He had said in his telegram that he would meet her there at four-thirty : but eagerness had brought Maud to the tryst a quarter of an hour ahead of time : and already the sadness of her surroundings was causing her to regret this impulsiveness . Depression had settled upon her spirit . She was aware of something that resembled foreboding .