the hour of five
There are dark Scots , and Hamilton was one of them . Although tall and slight , he was knit with a close and peculiar elegance , which made him look his best on a horse and in white linen . His face was burnt to the hue of brick-dust by the first quick assault of the tropic sun , but it was a thin face , well shaped , in spite of prominent cheek bones , and set with the features of long breeding ; and it was mobile , fiery , impetuous , and very intelligent : ancestral coarseness had been polished fine long since . They left the road and mounted toward the dark avenue of the Fawcett estate , Rachael wondering if her mother would be irritated at the informality of the stranger 's first call ; he should have arrived in state with Dr. Hamilton at the hour of five . Perhaps it was to postpone the moment of explanation that she permitted her horse to walk , even after they had reached the level of the avenue , and finally to crop the grass while she and Hamilton dismounted and sat down in a heavy grove of tamarinds on the slope of the hill . `` I 'm just twenty-one and have my own way to make , '' he was telling her . `` There are three before me , so I could n't afford the army , and as I 've a fancy for foreign lands , I 've come out here to be a merchant .