three
o'clock
Cicely did not think there was , and passed on through the shrubbery walk to where a raised path skirting a stone wall afforded a view of the road along which Jim and Ronald Mackenzie would presently be driving . She hardly knew why she had come . It was certainly not to watch for Jim . And if there was any idea in her mind of catching a glimpse of Ronald Mackenzie , herself unobserved by him , so that she might by a flash gain some insight into the character of a man who had interested her , she was probably giving herself useless trouble , for it was not yet three o'clock and the two men were not likely to arrive for another half-hour or more . But she had no sooner taken her stand by the stone wall and looked down at the road from under the shade of the great beech which overhung it , than Jim 's dog-cart swung round the corner , and Ronald Mackenzie , sitting by his side , had looked up and sent a glance from his bold dark eyes right through her . She had not had time to draw back ; she had been fairly caught . She drew back now , and coloured with annoyance as she pictured to herself the figure she must have presented to him , a girl so interested in his coming and going that she must lie in wait for him , and take up her stand an hour or so before he might have been expected .