four
o'clock
Once a month he wrote a dutiful letter to his uncle David , who never failed to answer by telegraph , `` Yours received . God bless you , Edward . '' This whimsical fashion of reply puzzled young Lynde quite as much as it diverted him until he learned -LRB- through his friend , John Flemming -RRB- that his aunt Vivien had extorted from the old gentleman a solemn promise not to write to his nephew . Lynde 's duties at the bank left him free every afternoon at four o'clock ; his work and his leisure were equally pleasant . In summer he kept a sail-boat on the river , and in winter he had the range of a rich collection of books connected with an antiquated public reading-room . Thus very happily , if very quietly , and almost imperceptibly the months rolled round to that period when the Nautilus Bank gave Edward Lynde a three weeks ' vacation , and he set forth , as we have seen , on Deacon Twombly 's mare , in search of the picturesque and the peculiar , if they were to be found in the northern part of New Hampshire . It was still dark enough the next morning to allow the great chimneys to show off their colored fires effectively , when Lynde passed through the dingy main street of K -- and struck into a road which led to the hill country .