one o'clock
`` My motto is , ` Hard words and soft boiled eggs , ' '' said Agatha , who had by this penance secured her own forgiveness and recovered her gayety . In vain was Phillida entreated to rest . She felt herself drawn to Mrs. Martin , who would , as she concluded , have got rid of Miss Bowyer , and seen the doctor and Charley , and be left alone , by this time . So , promising to be back by one o'clock , if possible , she went out again , indulging her fatigue so far as to take a car in Fourteenth street . Arrived at Mrs. Martin 's , she was embarrassed at finding Millard sitting with his aunt . She gave him a look of recognition as she entered , and said to Mrs. Martin , who was holding Tommy : `` I thought I should find you alone by this time . '' This indirect statement that she had not considered it desirable to encounter Millard again cut him , and he said , as though the words had been addressed to him , `` I am expecting Dr. Gunstone every moment . ''