three o'clock
`` God , I will not believe it -- I _ can not _ believe it ! '' said Julia , on her knees , at night , her hands pressed tight against her eyes . `` But I think he is beginning to love me ! '' And she walked in a strange dazzle of happiness , rejoicing in every sunny morning that , with its warmth and blueness and distant soft whistles from the bay , seemed to promise the spring , and rejoicing no less when rain beat against the windows of The Alexander , and the children rushed in upon her at three o'clock with raindrops in their hair and on their glowing cheeks . The convent garden , in the February mornings , the assembly room , with late uncertain sunlight checking its floor in the long afternoons , the Colonial restaurant filled with lights and the odours of food at night , all these familiar things seemed strangely new and thrilling , and the arrival of the postman was , twice a day , a heart-shaking event . In April Doctor Toland went on a fortnight 's trip to Mexico , and took his third daughter with him , in the undisguised hope of winning some small share of her confidence , and convincing her of his own disinterested affection . Two days later Barbara telephoned her aunt the harrowing news of Sally 's elopement with Keith Borroughs , and Miss Toland went at once to Sausalito , taking Julia along .