three in the afternoon
The latter had had the gardener set up a tall pole , to which was attached a tennis-ball by a cord , and she and Rolfe were hard at work on a game of tether-ball . Cowperwood , after a telegram to Mrs. Carter , had been met at the station in Pocono by her and rapidly driven out to the house . The green hills pleased him , the up-winding , yellow road , the silver-gray cottage with the brown-shingle roof in the distance . It was three in the afternoon , and bright for a sinking sun . `` There they are now , '' observed Mrs. Carter , cheerful and smiling , as they came out from under a low ledge that skirted the road a little way from the cottage . Berenice , executing a tripping , running step to one side , was striking the tethered ball with her racquet . `` They are hard at it , as usual .