four in the afternoon
He reproached himself stoutly , in thoroughly monkish fashion , and ended by resolving that obedience was a duty ; that the errand on which he was sent was one which would abase his sinful pride and must be executed for the benefiting of his spiritual condition . He said this to himself sincerely , yet he was human , and behind all was the consciousness that in this bad business there was at least the consolation that he should be face to face with Berenice . If humiliation was doubly bitter by being wrought through his love , at least his love might find some scanty comfort in the very means of his humiliation . When the hour for exercise , four in the afternoon , came , Maurice set out on his mission . He had blushed at himself in the mirror for the solicitude with which he regarded his image , but he had tried to believe that this arose only from a disinterested anxiety to appear at his best in behalf of the object which he was sent to accomplish . Miss Morison was living with Mrs. Frostwinch , and as Maurice walked buoyantly along , forgetting his errand and only remembering that he was to see her , he recalled how on the day when they had first met he had walked home with her from Mrs. Gore 's . He recalled the pretty , willful turn of her head and the saucy side-glance of her eyes , the proud curve of her neck , the color on her cheeks delicate as the first peach-blossom in spring .