nine o'clock
The one thing more absurd , that she should take a serious view of it , had not happened yet , and , indeed , would never happen ; so she told herself with a nervous little laugh . Harry gave her no opportunity of saying so to him , for you can not reprove glances or discourage pressings of your hand in fashion so blunt . And he was very discreet : he never made her look foolish . In public he treated her with just the degree of attention that gained his mother 's fond eulogium , and his father 's approving smile ; while Mr. Mortimer , who went to London at nine o'clock every morning and did not return till seven , was very seldom bothered by finding the young fellow hanging about the house . Certainly he came pretty frequently between the hours named , but it was , as the children could have witnessed , to play with them . And , through his comings and goings , Mrs. Mortimer moved with pleasure , vexation , self-contempt , and eagerness . One night she and her husband went to dine with the Sterlings .