ten minutes before eleven
`` I sha 'n' t see her for ... '' `` Be off , quick ! '' Vernon cut him short and pushed on . The tramp and Crossjay were audible to him ; Crossjay spurning the consolations of the professional sad man . Vernon spun across the fields , timing himself by his watch to reach Rendon station ten minutes before eleven , though without clearly questioning the nature of the resolution which precipitated him . Dropping to the road , he had better foothold than on the slippery field-path , and he ran . His principal hope was that Clara would have missed her way . Another pelting of rain agitated him on her behalf .