About five
o'clock
After a few timid notes and uncertain touches her playing became markedly correct , and towards the end full and free . But , whether from prejudice or unbiassed judgment , the venerable body of musicians could not help thinking that the simpler notes they had been wont to bring forth were more in keeping with the simplicity of their old church than the crowded chords and interludes it was her pleasure to produce . The day was done , and Fancy was again in the school-house . About five o'clock it began to rain , and in rather a dull frame of mind she wandered into the schoolroom , for want of something better to do . She was thinking -- of her lover Dick Dewy ? Not precisely . Of how weary she was of living alone : how unbearable it would be to return to Yalbury under the rule of her strange-tempered step-mother ; that it was far better to be married to anybody than do that ; that eight or nine long months had yet to be lived through ere the wedding could take place .