one o'clock
Her new life and surroundings -- the noiseless uneventful days , each with its little cares and occupations , and simple natural pleasures , the world of verdure and melody of birds and wide expanse of sky -- seemed strangely in harmony with her spirit : it soon became familiar as if she had been born to it ; the town life , the streets she had known from infancy , had never seemed so familiar , so closely joined to her life . And as the days and weeks and months went by , her London life , when she recalled it , began to seem immeasurably remote in time , or else unreal , like a dream or a story heard long ago ; and the people she had known were like imaginary people . Only Mary seemed real and not remote -- a link connecting that old and shadowy past with the vivid living present . Her mornings , from nine till one o'clock , were spent with her teacher , and occasionally they went for a walk after dinner ; but as a rule they were not together during the last half of the day . After school hours Miss Churton would hand over her pupil , not unwillingly , to her mother , and , if the state of the weather did not prevent , she would go away alone with her book to Eyethorne woods . A strangely solitary and unsocial life , it seemed to Fan ; and yet she felt convinced in her mind that her teacher was warm-hearted , a lover of her fellow-creatures , and glad to be with them ; and that she should seem so lonely and friendless , so apart even in her own home , puzzled her greatly . A mystery , however , it was destined to remain for a long time ; for no word to enlighten her ever fell from Mrs. Churton 's lips , who seldom even mentioned her daughter 's name , and never without a shade coming over her face , as if the name suggested some painful thought .