eight o'clock
The cool composure with which , last winter , she had answered his first declaration that he loved her was all gone ; the months , of waiting had done more than show him whether his love was real : they had shown her that she wanted it to be real . The day was a hard one to get through . The hours lagged -- yet they flew . At eight o'clock she went down , feeling as if it were all in her face ; but apparently nobody saw anything beyond the undoubted fact that in her white frock she looked as fresh and as vivid as a flower . At half after ten Rosamond came to her to know if she had received an invitation from Richard Kendrick to go for a horseback ride , adding that she herself was delighted at the thought and had telephoned Stephen , to find that he also was pleased and would be up in time . `` I wonder where he 's going to take us , '' speculated Rosamond , in a flutter of anticipation . `` Without doubt it will be somewhere that 's perfectly charming ; he knows how to do such things .