seven o'clock in the evening
I knew it could mean nothing but sorrow , but although I was half ill at the time , my plain duty was to go , so I thought , and go without making any explanation in the village . '' All this was new to Ivory and he hung upon his mother 's words , dreading yet hoping for the light that they might shed upon the past . `` I arrived at Brentville quite exhausted with the journey and weighed down by anxiety and dread . I found the house mentioned in the letter at seven o'clock in the evening , and knocked at the door . A common , hard-featured woman answered the knock and , seeming to expect me , ushered me in . I do not remember the room ; I remember only a child leaning patiently against the window-sill looking out into the dark , and that the place was bare and cheerless . `` I came to call upon Mr. Aaron Boynton , ' I said , with my heart sinking lower and lower as I spoke .