six o'clock
And when she reached the hall-door of the King 's House for a moment she forgot what she had come for , and was relieved to find that good Mrs. Strafford was in town . There was then , I do n't know whether there is not now , a little path leading by the river bank from Chapelizod to Island-bridge , just an angler 's footpath , devious and broken , but withal very sweet and pretty . Leaving the King 's House , she took this way home , and as she walked down to the river bank , the mortified girl looked down upon the grass close by her feet , and whispered to the daisies as she went along -- ` No , there 's no more kindness nor friendliness left in the world ; the people are all cold creatures now , and hypocrites ; and I 'm glad he 's gone . ' She paused at the stile which went over the hedge just beside an old fluted pier , with a grass-grown urn at top , and overgrown with a climbing rose-tree , just such a study as a young lady might put in her album ; and then she recollected the long letter from old Miss Wardle that Aunt Becky had sent her to read , with a request , which from that quarter was a command , that she should return it by six o'clock , for Aunt Becky , even in matters indifferent , liked to name hours , and nail people sharp and hard to futile appointments and barren punctualities . She paused at the stile ; she liked the old pier ; its partner next the river was in fragments , and the ruin and the survivor had both been clothed by good Mrs. Strafford -- who drew a little , and cultivated the picturesque -- with the roses I have mentioned , besides woodbine and ivy . She had old Miss Wardle 's letter in her hand , full , of course , of shocking anecdotes about lunatics , and the sufferings of Fleet prisoners , and all the statistics , and enquiries , and dry little commissions , with which that worthy lady 's correspondence abounded . It was open in her hand , and rustled sharp and stiffly in the air , but it was not inviting just then .