a quarter past three
It is extremely sad . '' `` I told you they had come to a ticklish point in their careers , '' the Crow permitted himself to remind his friend , `` and , ` pon my soul , I could not bet you one way or another how it will go . ` I hae me doots , ' as the Scotchman said . '' Meanwhile , Ethelrida , on the plea of letters to write , had retired to her room ; and there , as the clock struck a quarter past three , she awaited -- what ? She would not own to herself that it was her fate . She threw dust in her own eyes , and called it a pleasant talk ! She looked absurdly young for her twenty-six years , just a dainty slip of a patrician girl , as she sat there on her chintz sofa , with its fresh pattern of lilacs and tender green .