about four o'clock in the afternoon
`` No , indeed , gentlemen , '' he said , `` and have you seen aught of a bitch who bolted after a hare some half mile back . A greyhound I should be loath to lose . '' They had not , and said so ; and the man , still panting and mopping his head , thanked them , and asked whether he could be of any service in directing them , if they were strange to the country ; but they thought it better not to give him any hint of where they were going , so he rode off presently up the slope across their route and disappeared , whistling for his dog . And so at last , about four o'clock in the afternoon , they saw the church spire of Stanfield above them on the hill , and knew that they were near the end of their troubles . Another hundred yards , and there were the roofs of the old house , and the great iron gates , and the vanes of the garden-house seen over the clipped limes ; and then Mary Corbet and Mr. Buxton hurrying in from the garden , as they came through the low oak door , into the dear tapestried hall . A very happy party sat down to supper that evening in Stanfield Place . Anthony had taken Mr. Buxton aside privately when the first greetings were over , and told him all that happened : the alarm at Stanstead ; his device , and the entire peace they had enjoyed ever since .