three o'clock
`` I do n't know ! '' Chris answered , soberly , flinging away his half-finished cigarette , and folding his arms over his chest , as he stared through a screen of bare trees at the river . It was a March day of warm airs and bursting buds ; the roads were running water , and every bank and meadow oozed the thawing streams , but there was no green yet . Chris had come for the girl at three o'clock , just as she was starting out for one of her aimless , unhappy tramps , and had carried her off for a twenty-five-mile run to the quiet corner of the tavern 's porch in Tarrytown where they were having tea . `` I suppose that 's just life . Things go so rottenly , sometimes ! '' Norma 's eyes watered as she pushed the untasted toast away from her , cupped her chin in her hands , and stared at the river in her turn .