two o'clock
On the stairs he bent to scan her blushing countenance . `` How am I to punish you for your naughty distrust of my friendship and common sense ? I have been too busy all day to spare a minute for social pleasure . I dined at two o'clock , having an appointment at three , returned at half-past five , and was just coming down to your parlor to look you up . Another bit of unimportant news , with which I should not have annoyed you if you had not merited a little vexation by your preposterous fancies , is , that , instead of taking an early train to Philadelphia , I have to-day entered into engagements that will oblige me to prolong my stay in this place until the first of February . '' He looked bright and cheerful , ready for sport or badinage . Rosa caught herself wondering many times during that evening , and the succeeding days of the three weeks they passed under the same roof , if she had dreamed of -- not beheld with her bodily optics -- that one stormy burst of passion which had been his farewell to the hope of a final reconciliation with Mabel Aylett .