about five
o'clock in the afternoon
A certain reticence also , that became more and more noticeable as time went on , led her to feel that there was an invisible something growing up between them -- a something that the pride she possessed in such a striking degree forbade her to attempt to pierce , but which was none the less galling to her on that account . Very shortly before the events narrated in the last chapter she had taken the occasion of a visit from Philip to complain somewhat bitterly of her position , begging him to tell her when there was any prospect of her being allowed to take her rightful place -- a question her husband was quite unable to answer satisfactorily . Seeing that there was nothing to be got out of him , with womanly tact she changed the subject , and asked after Maria Lee -LRB- for whom she entertained a genuine affection -RRB- -- when he last saw her , how she was looking , if there was any prospect of her getting married , and other questions of the same sort -- the result of which was to evoke a most violent , and to her inexplicable , fit of irritability on the part of her husband . Something of a scene ensued , which was finally terminated about five o'clock in the afternoon by Philip 's abrupt departure to catch his train . Shortly afterwards Mrs. Jacobs , coming up to bring some tea , found Hilda indulging in tears that she had been too proud to shed before her husband ; and , having had an extended personal experience of such matters , rightly guessed that there had been a conjugal tiff , the blame of which , needless to say , she fixed upon the departed Philip . `` Lor , Mrs. Roberts '' -LRB- as Hilda was called -RRB- , she said , `` do n't take on like that ; they 're all brutes , that 's what they are ; if only you could have seen my Samuel , who 's dead and gone these ten years and buried in a private grave at Kensal Cemetery -- though he did n't leave anything to pay for it except three dozen and five of brandy -- he was a beauty , poor dear , he was ; your husband ai n't nothing to him . '' `` My husband , let me tell you , Mrs. Jacobs , is not a brute at all , '' sobbed Hilda , with dignity .