About four o'clock in the afternoon
He desires to be buried by his own folk in the churchyard of Mauchline . I am going out this afternoon . ' Then the lawyer went away , but before proceeding to the station he wrote a note to his wife , and sent it by a messenger to his house at Kelvinside . About four o'clock in the afternoon , as Gladys was putting a black ribbon in her hat , a cab rattled over the rough causeway , and a knock came to the house door ; and when Gladys went to open it , what was her surprise to behold on the threshold a lady , richly dressed , but wearing on her sweet , motherly face a look so truly kind that the girl 's heart warmed to her at once . ` I am Mrs. Fordyce , ' the lady said . ` You , I think , are Miss Graham ? May I come in ? '