seven o'clock
Father and daughter dined together very pleasantly . Clarissa had been almost happy by her father 's unwonted tenderness , and Mr. Lovel was in tolerable spirits , in spite of that dreary afternoon 's labour , that hopeless task of trying to find out some elastic quality in pounds , shillings , and pence . * * * * * AT seven o'clock Mr. Lovel composed himself for his after-dinner nap , and Clarissa , being free to dispose of herself as she pleased till about nine , at which hour the tea-tray was wont to be brought into the parlour , put on her hat and went out into the village . It would be daylight till nearly eight , and moonlight after that ; for the moon rose early , as Miss Lovel remembered . She had a fancy to look at the familiar old plane again -- the quiet village street , with its three or four primitive shops , and single inn lying back a little from the road , and with a flock of pigeons and other feathered creatures always on the patch of grass before it ; the low white-walled cottages , in which there were only friendly faces for her . That suggestion of a foreign home had made her native village newly dear to her .