four o’clock
He had fallen asleep on a bench in the sunny courtyard and his dream had carried him back to the forest . He sat rubbing his eyes and only half-awake , the sun kissing his hair into a halo against the old grey wall . A falcon near fretted restlessly on her perch , and a hound asleep by the fountain rose , and , slowly stretching its great limbs , came towards him . It was four o'clock on a warm day in September ; the courtyard was deserted save for a few busied serving men , and the knight and his household , were at a tilting in the Outer Bailey , all but the Lady Eleanor , Hilarius ' mistress , for , as Martin had foreseen , Sir John had so appointed it . It was now two months since Hilarius had come to the city which had seemed to him in the distance as the New Jerusalem full of promise ; but he had found no angels at the gates , nor were the streets full of the righteous ; nay , the place seemed nearer of kin to the Babylon of Blessed John 's Vision -- with a few holy ones who would surely be caught up ere judgment fell , amongst them Sir John and Lady Eleanor . A good knight and a God-fearing man was Sir John , tender to his children , gentle with his people , a faithful servant to God and King Edward ; shrewd withal , and an apt reader of men . Therefore , and because of the love he bore to Prior Stephen , he set Hilarius to attend his eldest daughter , who seemed to belong as little to this world as the lad himself ; and felt that in so doing he had achieved the best possible for his old friend , according to his asking .