four o'clock
But it would extricate him from his present dilemma , and save him many lectures ; he knew that his mother , always liberal where money was concerned , would `` do the thing handsomely , '' and it would always be easy to write and give Ruth what explanation he felt inclined , in a day or two ; so he consented , and soon lost some of his uneasiness in watching the bustle of the preparation for their departure . All this time Ruth was quietly spending in her room , beguiling the waiting , weary hours , with pictures of the meeting at the end . Her room looked to the back , and was in a side-wing away from the principal state apartments , consequently she was not roused to suspicion by any of the commotion ; but , indeed , if she had heard the banging of doors , the sharp directions , the carriage-wheels , she would still not have suspected the truth ; her own love was too faithful . It was four o'clock and past , when some one knocked at her door , and , on entering , gave her a note , which Mrs Bellingham had left . That lady had found some difficulty in wording it , so as to satisfy herself , but it was as follows : My son , on recovering from his illness , is , I thank God , happily conscious of the sinful way in which he has been living with you . By his earnest desire , and in order to avoid seeing you again , we are on the point of leaving this place ; but before I go , I wish to exhort you to repentance , and to remind you that you will not have your own guilt alone upon your head , but that of any young man whom you may succeed in entrapping into vice . I shall pray that you may turn to an honest life , and I strongly recommend you , if indeed you are not ` dead in trespasses and sins , ' to enter some penitentiary .