about five o'clock in the
evening
I practise crossing a horse as often as I can now , for I find that I can take much shorter cuts on horseback . '' He had , in fact , taken these riding exercises for about a week , only since Mrs. Charmond 's absence , his universal practice hitherto having been to drive . Some few days later , Fitzpiers started on the back of this horse to see a patient in the aforesaid Vale . It was about five o'clock in the evening when he went away , and at bedtime he had not reached home . There was nothing very singular in this , though she was not aware that he had any patient more than five or six miles distant in that direction . The clock had struck one before Fitzpiers entered the house , and he came to his room softly , as if anxious not to disturb her . The next morning she was stirring considerably earlier than he .