two o’clock
`` However , '' he went on more brightly , `` the good Bantling never does , and , whatever happens , he 'll take care of Henrietta . '' Ralph went to keep his appointment with Sir Matthew Hope , and Isabel made her arrangements for quitting Pratt 's Hotel . Her uncle 's danger touched her nearly , and while she stood before her open trunk , looking about her vaguely for what she should put into it , the tears suddenly rose to her eyes . It was perhaps for this reason that when Ralph came back at two o'clock to take her to the station she was not yet ready . He found Miss Stackpole , however , in the sitting-room , where she had just risen from her luncheon , and this lady immediately expressed her regret at his father 's illness . `` He 's a grand old man , '' she said ; `` he 's faithful to the last . If it 's really to be the last -- pardon my alluding to it , but you must often have thought of the possibility -- I 'm sorry that I shall not be at Gardencourt . ''