three o'clock
A rather cross-looking , red-faced , thin woman appeared , whom she requested to let her mistress know , as soon as was proper , that there was a young person in the house who said she had come from Testbridge by appointment to see her . `` Yes , ma'am , '' said Folter , with a supercilious yet familiar nod to Mary ; `` I 'll take care she knows . '' Mary passed what would have been a dreary morning to one dependent on her company . It was quite three o'clock when she was at length summoned to Mrs. Redmain 's boudoir . Folter , who was her guide thither , lingered , in the soft closing of the door , long enough to learn that her mistress received the young person with a kiss -- almost as much to Mary 's surprise as Folter 's annoyance , which annoyance partly to relieve , partly to pass on to Mrs. Perkin , whose reception of Mary she had learned , Folter hastened to report the fact , and succeeded thereby in occasioning no small uneasiness in the bosom of the housekeeper , who was almost as much afraid of her mistress as the other servants were of herself . Some time she spent in expectant trepidation , but gradually , as nothing came of it , calmed her fears , and concluded that her behavior to Mary had been quite correct , seeing the girl had made it no ground of complaint . But , although Hesper , being at the moment in tolerable spirits , in reaction from her depression of the day before , received Mary with a kiss , she did not ask her a question about her journey , or as to how she had spent the night .