four
o'clock
Coming out of church the next morning , Rose rejoiced over the clear bath of sunlight that followed the rain . `` Rod is going to take me driving , '' she told Martie . `` I like him ever so much ; do n't you , Martie ? '' Alice Clark , coming in for a chat with Lydia late that afternoon , added the information that when little Rose Ransome left the city at four o'clock , Rod Parker and that fat friend of his went , too . Escorting Rose -- and he and Rose would have tea in the city before he took her to Berkeley -- Martie thought . That was the beginning , and now scarcely a day passed without its new sting . The girl was not conscious of any instinct for bravery ; she did not want to be brave , she wanted to draw back from the rack -- to escape , rather than to endure .