about four in the
afternoon
At this moment Elsie entered the cottage , and was delighted at the invitation , for which , it may be told , George Hendrick had already prepared her . `` But how could she leave poor gran ? '' The old woman thought this could be managed if she was only wanted for the morning . And so it was finally settled that Elsie should , on fine Sundays , walk over to Rossleigh in time for the half-past eleven service , remaining for dinner at the rectory , in order that she might attend the afternoon Sunday-school , and thence return to Tor Bay at about four in the afternoon . To all this Mrs. McAravey assented , though probably the three young girls had no conception of the sacrifice it was to the invalid thus to consent to her being left alone from ten o'clock of a Sunday morning till nearly five . Elsie soon became a favourite at the rectory . Young and enthusiastic , she thought nothing of the four miles ' walk across the rough moorland ; nor did it ever occur either to her or Mrs. McAravey that , in partaking of the rector 's hospitality , she was profiting by the delicate sympathy of the girls for their hard-worked and ill-fed _ protégée _ .