eight o'clock
Father and son -- a goodly sight , as they paced side by side up and down the gravel walk -- -LRB- alas ! the pretty field-path belonged to days that were ! -RRB- -- up and down the broad , sunshiny walk , in front of the breakfast-room windows of Beechwood Hall . It was early -- little past eight o'clock ; but we kept Longfield hours and Longfield ways still . And besides , this was a grand day -- the day of Guy 's coming of age . Curious it seemed to watch him , as he walked along by his father , looking every inch `` the young heir ; '' and perhaps not unconscious that he did so ; -- curious enough , remembering how meekly the boy had come into the world , at a certain old house at Norton Bury , one rainy December morning , twenty-one years ago . It was a bright day to-day -- bright as all our faces were , I think , as we gathered round the cosy breakfast-table .