the hour of two in the afternoon
There were a few other youthward changes and additions ; and then the brown silk curtain closed over the mirror . Another woman leaned back in a corner of the brougham . By a trick of the face she had juggled away a generation of her years . The hands were moved backward on the horologe of mortality as we move backward the pointers on the dial of a clock : her face ticked at the hour of two in the afternoon of life instead of half-past five . There was still time enough left to be malicious . One morning about a week later she entered her carriage and was driven rapidly away . A soft-faced , middle-aged woman with gray ringlets and nervous eyes stepped timorously upon the veranda and watched her departure with an expression of relief -- Miss Harriet Crane , the unredeemed daughter of the household .