a quarter to 8 o'clock
While she slept , warm southern breezes spread a coverlet of silver gray mist over the homes of energy and thrift up and down the Connecticut Valley . In the morning when Gertrude opened the blinds , and saw the fog against the window panes and over the valley , she exclaimed , `` It is too bad , I so wanted George to drive to Mt. Holyoke to-day , and see nature at her best ! I hoped this would be the happiest day of my life . '' It was a quarter to 8 o'clock when a pair of spirited black roadsters , hitched to a buckboard , were driven in front of the hotel for George Ingram . As he appeared on the porch he looked every inch a gentleman . He was twenty-five years old , had received a practical education , and was filling acceptably the important position of assistant chemist of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. , to which , six months before , he had been promoted . He had fine physique , dark hair and eyes , and a military bearing that made him the natural commander of men .