five o'clock
He avoided Mr. Weil , with whom he usually took the train , and went out early . Alighting at a station a mile or two away from the right one , he walked through the woods , trying to think how to act in case matters did not turn out as he hoped . Under the branches he strolled along , until he came within sight of the roofs of Midlands ; and then he threw himself at the foot of a tree close to Mr. Fern 's grounds , and gave himself up to reverie . When he laid down here it was only five o'clock , and he was not expected at the house for a full hour . It pleased him to be so near the one he loved , and to lie where he could dream of her sweet face and see the outlines of the house that sheltered her , while she had no knowledge of his presence . Just over there was the arbor , where he had first had the supreme bliss of touching her lips with his own . If he could get her to come there with him again -- to-night -- when the others were occupied with their talk of earthly things , and if she would only tell him frankly that he might go to her father , and that her prayers would go with him !