One o'clock
Mrs Farrell recalled stories of belated letters from her own experience , and related them at length , while Mollie went numbly about her work . The disappointment was severe , and seemed like a foretaste of worse to come . Nevertheless , as time went on , her naturally buoyant nature asserted itself , and , as each delivery drew near , excitement grew to fever-pitch . One o'clock , and a letter for the maid ; three o'clock , and the postman walked past the door . Poor Mollie ! The sound of his departing footsteps rang like a knell in her ears , and two hot rebellious tears rose to her eyes . It did not seem possible that anything would have prevented the kindly Mrs Thornton from keeping her promise except sheer inability to communicate bad news ; and bad news meant that her own name and Ruth 's were not mentioned in the will , and that everything went to Victor Druce .