about six o'clock
The old lady had been for so long a part of his daily background that he could no more believe in her departure than he could in the sudden disappearance of the dark green curtains and the marble pillars in the dining-room . She had had , from the first , a great liking for Peter . He had never known how much of that affection was an incoherent madness and he had never in any way analysed his own feeling for her , but now he was surprised at the acute sharpness of his regret . On a bright evening of sunshine , about six o'clock , she died -- Mrs. Brockett , the Tressiters , Norah Monogue also were with her at the time . Peter had been with her alone during the earlier afternoon and although she had been very weak she had talked to him in her trembling voice -LRB- it was like the noise that two needles knocking against one another would make -RRB- , and she had told him how she believed in him . She made him ashamed with the things that she said about him . He had paid her little enough attention , he thought , during these seven years .