four o'clock
The men about were all on the broad grin when they heard Mr. Arthur 's message . '' Still in a morbid state of mind , Iris silently regretted that the message had not been written , instead of being delivered by word of mouth . Here , again , she -LRB- like the wild lord -RRB- had been afraid of listeners . The hours wore slowly on until it was past four o'clock . Iris could endure the suspense no longer . `` It 's a lovely afternoon , '' she said to Mrs. Lewson . `` Let us take a walk along the road , and meet Arthur . ''