four o'clock
They stopped at a farm-house at noon , and while at table saw the stage-coach from the town they had just left , bound for their own destination . In the mail-bag under the driver 's seat were Rena 's two letters ; they had been delivered at the town in the morning , and immediately remailed to Clarence , in accordance with orders left at the post-office the evening before . Tryon and Warwick drove leisurely homeward through the pines , all unconscious of the fateful squares of white paper moving along the road a few miles before them , which a mother 's yearning and a daughter 's love had thrown , like the apple of discord , into the narrow circle of their happiness . They reached Clarence at four o'clock . Warwick got down from the buggy at his office . Tryon drove on to his hotel , to make a hasty toilet before visiting his sweetheart . Warwick glanced at his mail , tore open the envelope addressed in his sister 's handwriting , and read the contents with something like dismay .