Nearly four o'clock
The old red walls and tiled roofs of the farm , the fields , the great hay and straw stacks , were all drenched in the soft winter light . Rachel went up to her room , and sat down before the bare deal dressing-table which held her looking-glass , and the very few articles of personal luxury she possessed ; a pair of silver-backed brushes and a hand-glass that had belonged to an aunt , a small leather case in which she kept some modest trinkets -- a pearl brooch , a bracelet or two , and a locket that had been her mother 's -- and , standing on either side of the glass , two photographs of her father and mother . There was a clock on the mantelpiece . `` Nearly four o'clock -- '' she thought -- `` I 'll give it an hour . He 'd send -- if he could n't come , and he wanted to come -- but if nothing happens -- I shall know what to think . '' As this passed through her mind , she opened one of the drawers of the dressing-table , in which she kept her gloves and handkerchiefs . Suddenly she perceived at the back of the drawer a small leathern case .