midday
`` I daresay I shall be asked to dinner while you are there , '' he said , as they were parting , `` and I may possibly come ; I shall be curious to see how you get on . '' `` O , pray do come , papa ; I 'm sure it will do you good . '' And then she kissed him affectionately , emboldened by that softer manner which he had shown towards her lately ; and the carriage drove off . A beautiful drive past fertile fields , far stretching towards that bright river , which wound its sinuous way through all this part of the country ; past woods that shut in both sides of the road with a solemn gloom even at midday -- woods athwart which one caught here and there a distant glimpse of some noble old mansion lying remote within the green girdle of a park . It was something less than an hour 's drive from Arden to Hale : the village-church clock and a great clock in the Castle stables were both striking twelve as the carriage drove under a massive stone arch , above which the portcullis still hung grimly . It was something like going into a prison , Clarissa thought ; but she had scarcely time for the reflection , when the carriage swept round a curve in the smooth gravel road , and she saw the sunny western front of the Castle , glorious in all its brightness of summer flowers , and with a tall fountain leaping and sparkling up towards the blue sky . She gave a little cry of rapture at sight of so much brightness and beauty , coming upon her all at once with a glad surprise .