five o'clock in the afternoon
Gilbert Fenton was not interested in the Liverpool trade at this particular crisis . He knew that he had weathered the storm which had assailed his own fortunes , and that the future lay clear and bright before him . He did not waste an hour in London , but went straight from one station to another , and was in time to catch a train for Fairleigh , the station nearest to Lidford . It was five o'clock in the afternoon when he arrived at this place , and chartered a fly to take him over to Lidford -- a lovely summer afternoon . The sight of the familiar English scenery , looking so exquisite in its summer glory , filled him with a pleasure that was almost akin to pain . He had often walked this road with Marian ; and as he drove along he looked eagerly at every distant figure , half hoping to see his darling approach him in the summer sunlight . Mr. Fenton deposited his carpet-bag at the cosy village inn , where snow-white curtains fluttered gaily at every window in the warm western breeze , and innumerable geraniums made a gaudy blaze of scarlet against the wooden wall .