eight o'clock
`` Tell Mademoiselle Clarisse that Mr. Wentworth will be here this evening to see the children . '' `` Yes , madam . '' The maid 's quiet voice was too well trained to express the slightest surprise , but as soon as the outer door had closed on her mistress , and she had heard the carriage drive away , she rushed down to the lower storey to convey the astounding intelligence , and to gossip over it for half an hour before she deemed it necessary to give the message to the governess who had succeeded Lois when the latter went home . It was just eight o'clock that evening when the carriage drove up to the door of Norman Wentworth 's bank , and a lady enveloped in a long wrap , her dark veil pulled down over her face , sprang out and ran up the steps . The crowd had long ago dispersed , though now and then a few timid depositors still made their way into the bank , to be on the safe side . The intervention of the banks and the loans they had made that afternoon had stayed the run and saved the bank from closing ; but Norman Wentworth knew that if he was not ruined , his bank had received a shock from which it would not recover in a long time , and his fortune was crippled , he feared , almost beyond repair . The tired clerks looked up as the lady entered the bank , and , with glances at the clock , muttered a few words to each other about her right to draw money after the closing-hour had passed .