three o'clock
In the afternoon some girl friends came to see her . She played and sang and talked to them , but they , too , noticed that she was never really with them , and her friends could see that she saw and heard things invisible and inaudible to them . In the middle of some trifling chatter -- whether one colour or another was likely to be fashionable in the coming season -- she had to put her hand in her pocket for her handkerchief , and happened to meet the key of the square , and it brought back to her in a moment the entire drama of her destiny . Was she going to take the three o'clock train to London , or to remain in Dulwich with her father ? She thought that she would not mind whatever happened , if she only knew what would happen . Either lot seemed better to her than the uncertainty . She rattled on , talking with fictitious gaiety about the colour of bonnets and a party at which Julia had sung , not even hearing what she was saying .