three o'clock
In addition to making her ex-pupil -- against whom they were mainly directed -- first miserable and then naughtily defiant by these manoeuvres , she alienated any sympathy which her red-rimmed eyelids and dolorous aspect might otherwise have engendered in the younger and less critical members of the establishment , by sending Alfred , the hall-boy , up to the vicarage with a note and instructions to wait for an answer , at the very moment when every domestic ordinance demanded his absorption in the cleaning of knives and of boots . Being but human , Alfred naturally embraced the heaven-sent chance of dawdling , passing the time of day with various cronies , and rapturously assisting to hound a couple of wild , sweating and snorting steers along the dusty lane , behind the churchyard , to Butcher Cleave 's slaughter-house : with the consequence that his menial duties devolved upon Laura and Lizzie , who , supported by the heads of their respective departments , combined to `` give him the what for , '' in no measured terms upon his eventual and very tardy return . It is not too much to say that , by luncheon time Theresa -- whether wilfully or not -- had succeeded in setting the entire household by the ears ; while any inclinations towards peace-making , with which Damaris might have begun the day , were effectively dissipated , leaving her strengthened and confirmed in revolt . Around the stables , and the proposed indignity put upon Patch and the horses , this wretched quarrel centred so -- as at once a vote of confidence and declaration of independence -- to the stables Damaris finally went and ordered the dog-cart at three o'clock . For she would drive , and drive , throughout the course of this gilded September afternoon . Drive far away from foolishly officious and disingenuous Theresa , far from Deadham , so tiresome just now in its irruption of tea-parties and treats . She would behold peaceful inland horizons , taste the freedom of spirit and the content which the long , smooth buff-coloured roads , leading to unknown towns and unvisited country-side , so deliciously give .