six o'clock
One letter was addressed to her , and he formally asked permission to call upon her with a message from Gregory Hawtrey . The other was to Major Radcliffe , and in both he said that an answer would reach him at the inn which his landlady had informed him was to be found not far from either of the houses he proposed to visit . He set out on foot next morning , and after climbing a steep pass followed a winding track across a waste of empty moor until he struck a smooth white road , which led past a rock-girt lake and into a deep valley . It was six o'clock when he started , and three when he reached the inn , where he found an answer to one of his letters awaiting him . It was from Major Radcliffe , who desired an interview with him as soon as possible . Within an hour he was on his way to the Major 's house , where a grey-haired man , whose yellow skin suggested long exposure to a tropical sun , and a little withered lady were waiting for him . They received him graciously , but there was an indefinite something in their manner and bearing which Wyllard , who had read a good deal , recognised , though he had never been brought into actual contact with it until then .