about three in the afternoon
`` But it will not be for long , '' she wrote . `` I shall soon return , and I send you thirty pounds , absolutely my own . This will last till I am with you , and then we will contrive together how to live respectably and happily . '' The day after the letter was sent , the Browne party started for Ridgeville , reaching the Allington station about three in the afternoon of a lovely July day . The news of their coming had preceded them , and the Ridge House , which was a large , imposing mansion , had for days been the scene of much bustle and excitement , for it was known that an Irish lord was to accompany the family , and an English lady , who , if not titled , was connected with some of the best families in England . There was a great deal of talk and gossip among the neighbors , who had known the Rossiter-Brownes with out an `` e '' or a hyphen , when he was simply Ike and she was Angeline , Miss Lucy Grey 's hired girl . But they were rich people now ; they owned the finest house in Ridgeville , and every room was covered with what Mrs. Browne called a Mocha carpet , and they kept negroes instead of white servants , and the barn was full of boxes of all sizes , which had arrived , from time to time , bearing foreign marks upon them , thus impressing the lower class with a species of awe as they thought how far they had come , and how much they had probably cost .