four o'clock
One by one the great arts had been drawn into that Kingdom , transformed and immortalised by the vital and miraculous sap of grace ; philosophies , languages , sciences , all in turn were taken up and sanctified ; and now this Puritan soul , thirsty for knowledge and grace , and so long starved and imprisoned , was entering at last into her heritage . All this was of course but dimly felt in the direct perceptions of Anthony ; but Father Robert had said enough to open something of the vision , and he himself had sufficient apprehension to make him feel that the old meagre life was passing away , and a new life of unfathomed possibilities beginning . As he rode the wilderness appeared to rejoice and blossom like the rose , as the spring of nature and grace stirred about and within him ; and only an hour or two 's ride away lay the very hills and streams of the Promised Land . * * * * About half-past three he crossed the London road , and before four o'clock he rode round to the door of the Dower House , dismounted , telling the groom to keep his horse saddled . He went straight through the hall , calling Isabel as he went , and into the garden , carrying his flat cap and whip and gloves : and as he came out beneath the holly tree , there she stood before him on the top of the old stone garden steps , that rose up between earthen flower-jars to the yew-walk on the north of the house . He went across the grass smiling , and as he came saw her face grow whiter and whiter . She was in a dark serge dress with a plain ruff , and a hood behind it , and her hair was coiled in great masses on her head .