five o’clock
Moreover , I was determined on one thing , that if I could find Lily alone I would delay no longer , but tell her all that was in my heart ; no great secret indeed , for though no word of love had ever passed between us as yet , each knew the other 's hidden thoughts . Not that I was in the way to become affianced to a maid , who had my path to cut in the world , but I feared that if I delayed to make sure of her affection my brother would be before me with her father , and Lily might yield to that to which she would not yield if once we had plighted troth . Now it chanced that on this afternoon I was hard put to it to escape to my tryst , for my master , the physician , was ailing , and sent me to visit the sick for him , carrying them their medicines . At the last , however , between four and five o'clock , I fled , asking no leave . Taking the Norwich road I ran for a mile and more till I had passed the Manor House and the church turn , and drew near to Ditchingham Park . Then I dropped my pace to a walk , for I did not wish to come before Lily heated and disordered , but rather looking my best , to which end I had put on my Sunday garments . Now as I went down the little hill in the road that runs past the park , I saw a man on horseback who looked first at the bridle-path , that at this spot turns off to the right , then back across the common lands towards the Vineyard Hills and the Waveney , and then along the road as though he did not know which way to turn .