three o'clock P.M.
To the consequent interview there was no witness . So it may best be chronicled in the report made by the interviewer to her friend Mrs. Festus Willard , who , in the cool seclusion of her sewing-room , was overwhelmed by a rush of Esmé to the heart , as she put it . Not having been apprised of Miss Elliot 's conflicting emotions since her departure , Mrs. Willard 's mind was as a page blank for impressions when her visitor burst in upon her , pirouetted around the room , appropriated the softest corner of the divan , and announced spiritedly : `` You need n't ask me where I 've been , for I wo n't tell you ; or what I 've been doing , for it 's my own affair ; anyway , you would n't be interested . And if you insist on knowing , I 've been revisiting the pale glimpses of the moon -- at three o'clock P.M. '' `` What do you mean , moon ? '' inquired Mrs. Willard , unconsciously falling into a pit of slang . `` The moon we all cry for and do n't get . In this case a haughty young editor . ''