a quarter to eight
The day , as she had prognosticated , turned out fine ; for weather-wisdom was imbibed with their milk-sops by the children of the Exe Vale . The impending meeting excited Margery , and she performed her duties in her father 's house with mechanical unconsciousness . Milking , skimming , cheesemaking were done . Her father was asleep in the settle , the milkmen and maids were gone home to their cottages , and the clock showed a quarter to eight . She dressed herself with care , went to the top of the garden , and looked over the stile . The view was eastward , and a great moon hung before her in a sky which had not a cloud . Nothing was moving except on the minutest scale , and she remained leaning over , the night-hawk sounding his croud from the bough of an isolated tree on the open hill side .