seven o’clock
She had been paying calls with her mother , and in between the calls Mrs. Hilbery had rushed into shops and bought pillow-cases and blotting-books on no perceptible method for the furnishing of Katharine 's house . Katharine had a sense of impedimenta accumulating on all sides of her . She had left her at length , and had come on to keep an engagement to dine with Rodney at his rooms . But she did not mean to get to him before seven o'clock , and so had plenty of time to walk all the way from Bond Street to the Temple if she wished it . The flow of faces streaming on either side of her had hypnotized her into a mood of profound despondency , to which her expectation of an evening alone with Rodney contributed . They were very good friends again , better friends , they both said , than ever before . So far as she was concerned this was true .