nine in the
morning
`` She had on a gown with little flowers all over a yellowy ground , and there was a curl that came down on her white neck -- and when I had gone away forever and then felt her hand upon my arm , it was like a sword-stroke opening Paradise . It is n't really late , is it ? I could talk till dawn ! '' The coach of Mrs. Jane Selden entered Charlottesville at nine in the morning , and did not turn homeward again until the afternoon stood at four . The intermediate hours were diligently used by the small and withered lady in plum-coloured silk and straw bonnet , scarf of striped , apple-green gauze , and turkey-feather fan . She came to town but once in three months , and made of each visit a field day . Every store was called at , for buying must be done for herself and her plantation to last until Christmas-tide .