About five o'clock
Mrs. Ascott was not at Pride 's Hall -- her house -- when he presented himself at the door . Her servant , evidently instructed , did not know where Mrs. Ascott and Miss Palliser had gone or when they might return . So Portlaw betook himself heavily to the village inn , where he insulted his astonished stomach with a noonday dinner , and found the hard wooden chairs exceedingly unpleasant . About five o'clock he got into his saddle with an unfeigned groan , and out of it again at Mrs. Ascott 's door . They told him there that Mrs. Ascott was not at home . Whether this might be the conventional manner of informing him that she declined to receive him , or whether she really was out , he had no means of knowing ; so he left his cards for Mrs. Ascott and Miss Palliser , also the note which young Mrs. Malcourt had given him ; clambered once more up the side of his horse , suppressing his groans until out of hearing and well on his way toward the fatal boundary . In the late afternoon , sky and water had turned to a golden rose hue ; clouds of gnats danced madly over meadow pools , calm mirrors of the sunset , save when a trout sprang quivering , a dark , slim crescent against the light , falling back with a mellow splash that set the pool rocking .