nine o'clock
Supper was ordered for Mr. Stewart at half-past seven o'clock ; and this meal Sir Nicholas had consented should be laid downstairs in his own private room opening out of the hall , and that he and his ladies should sit down to table at the same time . Mr. Stewart went to his room an hour before to dress for riding , and to superintend the packing of his saddle-bags ; and at half-past seven he was conducted downstairs by Sir Nicholas who insisted on carrying the saddle-bags with his own hands , and they found the two ladies waiting for them in the panelled study that had one window giving upon the terrace that ran along the south of the house above the garden . When supper had been brought in by Sir Nicholas ' own body-servant , Mr. Boyd , they sat down to supper after a grace from Sir Nicholas . The horses were ordered for nine o'clock . On the morning of the day after Mr. Stewart 's secret arrival at Maxwell Hall , the Rector was walking up and down the lawn that adjoined the churchyard . He had never yet wholly recovered from the sneers of Mistress Corbet ; the wounds had healed but had not ceased to smart . How blind these Papists were , he thought !