nine
o'clock
And a thought-presence was precisely what it was . A thousand circumstances may stretch that hyphen which at once links and separates the sign-syllables of the wonderful fact ; an impossibility , of physical conditions , may be between ; but the fact subsists -- and in rare moments we know it -- when that which belongs to us comes invisibly and takes us to itself ; when we feel the footsteps afar off which may or may not be feet of the flesh turned toward us . Yet even this conjunction does happen , now and again ; the will -- the blessed purpose -- is accomplished at once on earth and in heaven . When many minutes after the city bells had ceased to sound for nine o'clock , the bell of her own door rang with a clear , strong stroke , Desire Ledwith thought instantly of Mr. Kirkbright with a singular recall , -- that was less a change than a transfer of the same perception , -- from the inward to the actual . She had no reason to suppose it , -- no ordinary reason why , -- but she was suddenly persuaded that the friend who in the last hour had stood spiritually beside her , stood now , in reality , upon her door-stone . She did not even wonder for what he could have come . She did not move from her chair ; she did not lift her crossed hands from off her open book .