four o'clock
months ago , and that they had refused to believe her ; but her triumph was short-lived , for the girls only laughed at her five drops , called her their `` faithful croaker , '' and altogether played such havoc with her dignity that she retired within her shell in displeasure . Had the occasion been less important , she would have flown to her room to pour out her woes to the ever-sympathetic diary ; but no personal slight could be allowed to interfere with work to-day , for at four o'clock Jim would arrive , and never should it be said that the Rendell girls were engaged on their own devices when the one and only brother returned to his home ! The first few hours after Jim 's arrival could be spent in no other way than gazing upon him , in drinking in his words , and hanging around him in adoring admiration . By four o'clock the porch-room was abandoned , and each sister , attired in her best blouse and freshest skirt , was craning her head out of the dining-room window , while Kitty Maitland hovered in the background , scarcely less excited than themselves . He came . He stepped out of the fly , paid the cabman , and lounged up the path , lifting his head to nod in patronising fashion to his adorers . He was no Apollo of beauty , no Samson of strength , but just an ordinary-looking young man in an ordinary grey suit , with ordinary irregular features redeemed from plainness by an expression of quizzical good humour ; yet each of the eight beholders gave a gasp of adoration as she beheld him .