three o'clock
Mrs. Colwood stood at the foot of the stairs a moment , lost in a trance of wonderment . Her heart was really sore for Diana 's disappointment , for the look in her face , as she left the house . How on earth could the visit be shortened and the young lady removed ? The striking of three o'clock reminded Muriel Colwood that she was to take the new-comer out for an hour . They had taken coffee in the morning-room up-stairs , Diana 's own sitting-room , where she wrote her letters and followed out the lines of reading her father had laid down for her . Mrs. Colwood returned thither ; found Miss Merton , as it seemed to her , in the act of examining the letters in Diana 's blotting-book ; and hastily proposed to her to take a turn in the garden . Fanny Merton hesitated , looked at Mrs. Colwood a moment dubiously , and finally walked up to her .