three o'clock
` Where are you living , dear ? ' Kate told him with some difficulty , and having directed the driver , he lapsed again into considering what course he should adopt . To put off the journey was impossible ; Dick had promised to meet him there . It was now three o'clock . He had therefore three hours to spend with Kate -- with the woman whom he had loved steadfastly throughout a loveless life . He had no word of blame for Dick ; he had heard stories that had made his blood run cold ; and yet , knowing her faults as he did , he would have opened his arms had it been possible , and crying through the fervour of years of waiting , said to her , ` Yes , I will believe in you ; believe in me and you shall be happy . ' There had never been a secret between them ; their souls had been for ever as if in communication ; and the love , unacknowledged in words , had long been as sunlight and moonlight , lighting the spaces of their dream-life .