about three in the afternoon
Both the friends were deeply affected , feeling that this journey was a something quite apart from Susan 's ordinary every-day little expeditions to the city . Finally Miss Clegg withdrew her hand , straightened out the resultant wrinkles in her mitt , and stalked away . Mrs. Lathrop sighed sadly , returned to her own rocker , and entered upon the course of a long day of patient waiting . It was about three in the afternoon that , to her great surprise , she saw Miss Clegg returning . There was something altogether new and strange in the gait of the latter while she was at a distance , and as she drew nearer Mrs. Lathrop 's eyes and mouth opened together . The nearer that Susan drew the more provocative of astonishment was her general appearance . To sum up the whole state of the case in as few words as possible , I will say that she seemed to have barely survived some hitherto totally unknown species of catastrophe .