four o'clock
That will give her some idea of the duties which will devolve upon her as a rector 's wife . I can go directly there from Prospect Hill , where , I suppose , I must call with Aunt Meredith . '' Anna made herself believe that in doing this she was acting only from a magnanimous desire to fit Lucy for her work , if , indeed , she was to be Arthur 's wife -- that in taking the mantle from her own shoulders , and wrapping it around her rival , she was doing a most amiable deed , when down in her inmost heart , where the tempter had put it , there was an unrecognized wish to see how the little dainty girl would shrink from the miserable abode , and recoil from the touch of the little , dirty hands which were sure to be laid upon her dress if the children were at home , and she waited a little impatiently to start on her errand of mercy . It was four o'clock when , with her aunt , she arrived at Colonel Hetherton 's and found the family assembled upon the broad piazza , the doctor dutifully holding the skein of worsted from which Miss Fanny was crocheting , and Lucy playing with a kitten , whose movements were scarcely more graceful than her own , as she sprang up and ran to welcome Anna . `` Oh , yes , I am delighted to go with you . Pray let us start at once , '' she exclaimed , when , after a few moments of conversation , Anna told where she was going . Lucy was very gayly dressed , enough so for a party , Anna thought , smiling to herself as she imagined the startling effect the white muslin and bright plaid ribbons would have upon the inmates of the shanty where they were going .