four in the afternoon
precisely
It is a Saturday afternoon of blue and yellow autumn time , and the scene is the High Street of a well-known market-town . A large carrier 's van stands in the quadrangular fore-court of the White Hart Inn , upon the sides of its spacious tilt being painted , in weather-beaten letters : ` Burthen , Carrier to Longpuddle . ' These vans , so numerous hereabout , are a respectable , if somewhat lumbering , class of conveyance , much resorted to by decent travellers not overstocked with money , the better among them roughly corresponding to the old French _ diligences _ . The present one is timed to leave the town at four in the afternoon precisely , and it is now half-past three by the clock in the turret at the top of the street . In a few seconds errand-boys from the shops begin to arrive with packages , which they fling into the vehicle , and turn away whistling , and care for the packages no more . At twenty minutes to four an elderly woman places her basket upon the shafts , slowly mounts , takes up a seat inside , and folds her hands and her lips . She has secured her corner for the journey , though there is as yet no sign of a horse being put in , nor of a carrier .