noon on Friday
We think them more than half unreal . We are so apt to take it for granted that the world has outgrown the religious thirst for sanctification ; for a perfect moral consistency , as it has outgrown so many of the older complications of the sentiment of honor . And meanwhile half the tragedy of our time lies in this perpetual clashing of two estimates of life -- the estimate which is the offspring of the scientific spirit , and which is forever making the visible world fairer and more desirable in mortal eyes ; and the estimate of Saint Augustine . As a matter of fact , owing to some travelling difficulties , the vicar and Elsmere did not get home till noon on Friday . Catherine knew nothing of either delay or arrival . Mrs. Leyburn watched her with anxious timidity , but she never mentioned Elsmere 's name to any one on the Friday morning , and no one dared speak of him to her . She came home in the afternoon from the Backhouses ' absorbed apparently in the state of the dying girl , took a couple of hours rest , and hurried off again .