four o'clock
How good she was to us that day ! how good everybody was ! and how good it was to be just what I was , and where I was -- off on a royal spree in the splendidest snowstorm I had ever seen , and Home and Christmas at the end of the journey . Darkness fell by four o'clock , and , but for the whiteness of the earth , we would not have been able to see the trees on the side of the road when we came in sight of the house . Not a shutter had been closed , and every window was aglow with fire and lamplight , golden and pink through the snowy veil shifting and swaying between them and our happy eyes . When , for me , Life 's little day -- full , rich , and blessèd , for all that storm and wreck and blight have , once and again , befallen me , as was God 's will , and therefore , for my eternal good -- when , for me , Life 's little day darkens to its outgoing , may the lights of the Home that changes not , save from glory to glory , shine out for me through night and chill with such loving welcome as gleamed in those ruddy windows ! * * * * * THE FAMOUS PEPPER BOOKS BY MARGARET SIDNEY