seven o'clock
Therefore , no one saw that , when she had finished tying up her shoe , she leaned forward from the path and slid out her hand to a tiny mound of earth that lay near the compound wall -- a little mound that might very well have been pushed up by a mole on the other side -- dived her fingers into the earth , and withdrew a small package wrapped in a dirty rag . Then , swiftly she thrust something back into the earth , smoothed the little heap level , rose from tying her shoe , and lightly sauntered on her way . The next time she had occasion to use her handkerchief she slipped the little package into her pocket , and so , empty-handed except for her sunshade , she passed through the big gate . At seven o'clock that evening , the carriage stood before the door of Tiptree House , waiting to convey the Ozanne family to the Chilvers ' dinner-party , and Mrs. Ozanne , in black velvet and old lace , waited in the hall for her two daughters . She sat tapping with her fan upon a little Benares table before her , turning over in her mind , as she had been doing all the afternoon , two sentences from a letter Richard Gardner had sent her . It was an honourable and manly letter , putting forward his feelings for Rosalie and the fact that he had already asked her to be his wife . He had meant , he wrote , to call that afternoon on Mrs. Ozanne and ask verbally for her consent to the engagement , but something had happened to prevent his coming .