eight
o'clock
Privately , he thought that if she encouraged him beyond a very moderate point , Fenwick would soon become troublesome . But whenever she pleaded that anything ` amused ' her , he could never find a word to say . Every now and then he watched her , furtively trying to pierce that grey veil in which she had wrapt herself . To-morrow morning , he supposed , he should hear her step on the stairs , towards eight o'clock -- should hear it passing his door in going , and an hour later in coming back -- and should know that she had been to a little Ritualist church close by , where what Lady Findon called ` fooleries ' went on , in the shape of ` daily celebrations ' and ` vestments ' and ` reservation . ' How lightly she stepped ; what a hidden act it was ; never spoken of , except once , between him and her ! It puzzled him often ; for he knew very well that Eugénie was no follower of things received . She had been a friend of Renan and of Taine in her French days ; and he , who was a Gallic with a leaning to the Anglican Church , had sometimes guessed with discomfort that Eugénie was in truth what his Low Church wife called a ` free-thinker . '