five o'clock
If she were to ` grow ' -- dear , funny phrases , even in her extremity , Helen could smile over them ; even though she loved dear Franklin and enshrined him , his phrases would always seem funny to her -- but if she were to grow it must be for Franklin , and in a different way from what he asked . She would indeed try not to become harder and drier ; she would try to make of her life something not too alien from his ideal for her ; she would try to pursue the just and the beautiful . But to rekindle the burnt-out fires of her love was a miracle that even Franklin 's love and Franklin 's suffering could not perform , and as for marrying Gerald in order to be a mother to him , she did not feel it possible , even for Franklin 's sake , to assume that travesty . It was at five o'clock that she asked Gerald to come and see her . She went down to him in her sitting-room , when , on the stroke of the clock , he was announced . She felt that it required no effort to meet him , beyond the forcing of her weariness . Gerald was standing before the fire , and in looking at him , as she entered and closed the door , she was aware of a little sense of surprise .