about ten o'clock
Her face grew intensely sober , and she did not notice when young Lloyd left . All at once she had reflected how her father had never owned a watch in his whole life , though he was a man , but he had given one to her . She reflected how he had so little work , how shabby his clothes were , how he must have gone without himself to buy this for her , and the girl had such a heart of gold that it rose triumphantly loyal to its first loves and tendernesses , and her father 's old , worn face came between her and that of the young man who might become her lover . The day after Ellen 's graduation there might have been seen a touching little spectacle passing along the main street of Rowe about ten o'clock in the fore-noon . It was touching because it gave evidence of that human vanity common to all , which strives to perpetuate the few small , good things that come into the hard lives of poor souls , and strives with such utter futility . Ellen held up her fluffy skirts daintily , the wind caught her white ribbons and the loose locks of her yellow hair under her white hat . She carried Cynthia Lennox 's basket of roses on her arm , and each of the others was laden with bouquets .