nine o'clock
`` Who better ? Molly Healy would make the longest road short and the roughest one smooth . If we puncture or blow out , she will cause us to forget the trials that pursue the tyres of a motor car . '' The following day , at nine o'clock , the big `` Layton '' car , resplendent in a recent coat of paint , well shod , and perfectly equipped , started from the house on the long journey to Millerton . Denis Quirk was at the wheel , the chauffeur beside him . In the tonneau Molly Healy and Desmond O'Connor kept up a crossfire of good-humoured raillery , while Kathleen sat between them , smiling at their jests . It was a bright , sunny day , with a gentle breeze blowing from the south ; the roads were smooth , and the motor throbbed along throwing the miles behind her , and the dust in the faces of those whom they passed on their way .