nearly two o'clock
The men she knew had so few words for the beautiful in life . She wondered whether this man 's illness had given him this refinement or whether it was native to his kind . `` I 'm glad he took my coat , '' was her thought . She pushed on down the slope , riding hard , but it was nearly two o'clock when they drew up at Meeker 's house , which was a long , low , stone structure built along the north side of the road . The place was distinguished not merely by its masonry , but also by its picket fence , which had once been whitewashed . Farm-wagons of various degrees of decay stood by the gate , and in the barn-yard plows and harrows -- deeply buried by the weeds -- were rusting forlornly away . A little farther up the stream the tall pipe of a sawmill rose above the firs .