nearly one o’clock before
As we were toiling up , I looked back again ; there was the village spire , and the old grey parsonage beyond it , basking in a slanting beam of sunshine -- it was but a sickly ray , but the village and surrounding hills were all in sombre shade , and I hailed the wandering beam as a propitious omen to my home . With clasped hands I fervently implored a blessing on its inhabitants , and hastily turned away ; for I saw the sunshine was departing ; and I carefully avoided another glance , lest I should see it in gloomy shadow , like the rest of the landscape . As we drove along , my spirits revived again , and I turned , with pleasure , to the contemplation of the new life upon which I was entering . But though it was not far past the middle of September , the heavy clouds and strong north-easterly wind combined to render the day extremely cold and dreary ; and the journey seemed a very long one , for , as Smith observed , the roads were ` very heavy ' ; and certainly , his horse was very heavy too : it crawled up the hills , and crept down them , and only condescended to shake its sides in a trot where the road was at a dead level or a very gentle slope , which was rarely the case in those rugged regions ; so that it was nearly one o'clock before we reached the place of our destination . Yet , after all , when we entered the lofty iron gateway , when we drove softly up the smooth , well-rolled carriage-road , with the green lawn on each side , studded with young trees , and approached the new but stately mansion of Wellwood , rising above its mushroom poplar-groves , my heart failed me , and I wished it were a mile or two farther off . For the first time in my life I must stand alone : there was no retreating now . I must enter that house , and introduce myself among its strange inhabitants .