one
o'clock
Georgiana slipped off her pinafore , and Stuart , who had insisted on waiting for her , hung it upon its accustomed nail . `` Do you suppose pretty cousin ever wore one ? '' he queried . Mr. E. C. Jefferson laid down his pen , ran his hand through his heavy brown hair , rumpling it still more than it had been rumpled before -- which is saying considerable -- and stretched his legs under the table upon which he had been writing steadily since half-past one o'clock . He heaved a mighty breath , stretched his arms to match his legs , looked round at his windows , which faced the west , and so had kept him supplied with strong light longer than windows on any other side of the house would have done , and took out his watch . Nearly half-past four . Time , and more than time , for his late afternoon tramp .