nine o'clock
If Mr. Galbraith would kindly signify to Mr. Torrie his assent , a carriage and four , with postilions , that he might make the journey in all possible comfort , should be at his house the next morning , at ten o'clock , if that hour would be convenient . For weeks the laird had been an unmitigated bore to himself , and the invitation laid hold upon him by the most projecting handle of his being , namely , his self-importance . He wrote at once to signify his gracious assent ; and in the evening told his daughter he was going to Glashruach on business , and had arranged for Miss Kimble to come and stay with her till his return . At nine o'clock the schoolmistress came to breakfast , and at ten a travelling-carriage with four horses drew up at the door , looking nearly as big as the cottage . With monstrous stateliness , and a fur-coat on his arm , the laird descended to his garden gate , and got into the carriage , which instantly dashed away for the western road , restoring Mr. Galbraith to the full consciousness of his inherent grandeur : if he was not exactly laird of Glashruach again , he was something quite as important . His carriage was just out of the street , when a second , also with four horses , drew up , to the astonishment of Miss Kimble , at the garden gate . Out of it stepped Mr. and Mrs. Sclater !