four o'clock
The tourists who thronged the rooms might as well have been `` wi ' their dear little bairnies at hame ; '' and so some of them seemed to think , as they stood , with their faces flattened against the window-panes , looking abroad in search of an event to fill up the dreary time . How many dinners were hastened that day , by way of getting through the morning , let the poor Welsh kitchen-maid say ! The very village children kept indoors ; or if one or two more adventurous stole out into the land of temptation and puddles , they were soon clutched back by angry and busy mothers . It was only four o'clock , but most of the inmates of the inn thought it must be between six and seven , the morning had seemed so long -- so many hours had passed since dinner -- when a Welsh car , drawn by two horses , rattled briskly up to the door . Every window of the ark was crowded with faces at the sound ; the leathern curtains were undrawn to their curious eyes , and out sprang a gentleman , who carefully assisted a well-cloaked-up lady into the little inn , despite the landlady 's assurances of not having a room to spare . The gentleman -LRB- it was Mr Bellingham -RRB- paid no attention to the speeches of the hostess , but quietly superintended the unpacking of the carriage , and paid the postillion ; then , turning round with his face to the light , he spoke to the landlady , whose voice had been rising during the last five minutes : `` Nay , Jenny , you 're strangely altered , if you can turn out an old friend on such an evening as this . If I remember right , Pen trê Voelas is twenty miles across the bleakest mountain road I ever saw . ''