two o'clock
This was still more disconcerting than the hotel , but the closer she came to the ride , the more resigned she became , for she began to relive the long hours of torture on the trip outward , during which she had endured clouds of dust and blazing heat . There were some disadvantages in the old stage , romantic as her conception of it had been . Furthermore , the coach had gone ; so she made application for her seat at once . At two o'clock , as the car came to the door , she entered it with a sense of having stepped from one invading chariot of progress to another , so big and shining and up to date was its glittering body , shining with brass and glowing with brave red paint . It was driven , also , by a small , lean young fellow , whom the cowboys on her father 's ranch would have called a `` lunger , '' so thin and small were his hands and arms . He was quite as far from old Tom Quentan as the car was from the coach on which he used to perch . The owner of the machine , perceiving under Virginia 's veil a girl 's pretty face , motioned her to the seat with the driver , and rode beside her for a few minutes -LRB- standing on the foot-board -RRB- , to inquire if she were visiting friends in the Fork .