five o'clock
before
Treading in Perilous Places Sunday came , as brilliant as if there were no sorrow , or death , or guilt in the world ; a day or two of rain had made the earth fresh and brave as the blue heavens above . Ruth thought it was too strong a realisation of her hopes , and looked for an over-clouding at noon ; but the glory endured , and at two o'clock she was in the Leasowes , with a beating heart full of joy , longing to stop the hours , which would pass too quickly through the afternoon . They sauntered through the fragrant lanes , as if their loitering would prolong the time , and check the fiery-footed steeds galloping apace towards the close of the happy day . It was past five o'clock before they came to the great mill-wheel , which stood in Sabbath idleness , motionless in a brown mass of shade , and still wet with yesterday 's immersion in the deep transparent water beneath . They clambered the little hill , not yet fully shaded by the overarching elms ; and then Ruth checked Mr Bellingham , by a slight motion of the hand which lay within his arm , and glanced up into his face to see what that face should express as it looked on Milham Grange , now lying still and peaceful in its afternoon shadows . It was a house of after-thoughts ; building materials were plentiful in the neighbourhood , and every successive owner had found a necessity for some addition or projection , till it was a picturesque mass of irregularity -- of broken light and shadow -- which , as a whole , gave a full and complete idea of a `` Home . '' All its gables and nooks were blended and held together by the tender green of the climbing roses and young creepers .