two past noon
A double winding of the channel closed it in above and below . Some forty or fifty feet over their heads , against a pure sky of loveliest blue , waved a shaggy fringe of salt grasses , yellowing in the autumn air . This harsh and meagre herbage encircled the rim of the chasm , and seemed to make the outer world of men infinitely remote . The sun , an hour or two past noon , glared down whitely into the gulf , and glistened , in a myriad of steely reflections , from the polished but irregular steeps of slime . There was something so strange and monstrous in the scene that Margaret 's dull misery was quickened to a nameless horror . Suddenly a voice , which she hardly recognized as that of her lover , said slowly and steadily : -- `` Margaret , this is the end of our journey ; we have come to the end . '' Looking up she met Crewe 's eyes fastened upon her with a gaze which seemed to sustain her and fill her nerves with strength .