3 oclock
So little Sylvia was left an orphan and her mothers only brother Richard Earlsdown came forward to take charge of her being a bachelor and possessing no children of his own . At the time our history opens Sylvia was a tall thin girl with a fair and saddened face , which was only enlivened by the sky blue of her eyes -- she had golden hair which she wore combed back from her white and noble forehead and arranged in heavy waves round her small and shapely head -- a small rosebud mouth which when wide open displayed 2 rows of pearly white teeth . Small white hands adorned by 3 golden rings and a tiny round nose which she daintily touched now and again with a lace hankerchief . It was 3 oclock on a dismal afternoon late in February and the place was on the boarders of the Sussex downs . `` What a rainy day for our walk Uncle '' sighed Sylvia as she approached her uncle who was still waiting in the hall . `` I wish it were finer my dear '' said Mr. Earlsdown opening a large unbrella manfully . Mr. Earlsdown was an elderly man between 50 and 60 , he had iron grey hair and a long bushy beard to corrospond , sharp grey eyes and a would be handsome face but for a stern forbidding expression it habitually wore .