about six o'clock in the afternoon
In the estimation of the peasantry , who would not associate lands , horses , and a carriage , with want of money , he was a rich man ; but Mrs. McQuinch found it hard to live like a lady on their income , and had worn many lines into her face by constantly and vainly wishing that she could afford to give a ball every season , to get a new carriage , and to appear at church with her daughters in new dresses oftener than twice a year . Her two eldest girls were plump and pleasant , good riders and hearty eaters ; and she had reasonable hopes of marrying them to prosperous country gentlemen . Elinor , her third and only other child , was one of her troubles . At an early age it was her practice , once a week or thereabouts , to disappear in the forenoon ; be searched anxiously for all day ; and return with a torn frock and dirty face at about six o'clock in the afternoon . She was stubborn , rebellious , and passionate under reproof or chastisement : governesses had left the house because of her ; and from one school she had run away , from another eloped with a choir boy who wrote verses . Him she deserted in a fit of jealousy , quarter of an hour after her escape from school . The only one of her tastes that conduced to the peace of the house was for reading ; and even this made her mother uneasy ; for the books she liked best were fit , in Mrs. McQuinch 's opinion , for the bookcase only .