four o'clock
Headlong between its high banks plunged the swollen torrent , the roaring spate ; brown from its washing of the peaty moorland , and churned into flying flakes of foam . Over the worn ledges , at other times a succession of little waterfalls , rolled in resistless fury a mighty cataract ; at great rocks in mid-channel it leapt with surges like those of an angry sea . The spectacle was fascinating in its grandeur , appalling in its violence ; with the broad leafage of the glen arched over it in warm , still sunshine , wondrously beautiful . They wandered some way by the river banks ; then drove to other spots of which Otway spoke , lunched at a village inn , and by four o'clock returned altogether to the Castle . After tea , Piers found himself alone with Irene . Mrs. Borisoff had left the room whilst he was speaking , and so silently that for a moment he was not aware of her withdrawal . Alone with Irene , for the first time since he had known her ; even at Ewell , long ago , they had never been together without companionship .