five
o'clock
The night air still carried the music of the bells . For an hour they pealed on ; then the chime died slowly , a bell at a time , until two clanged each against the other . Presently one stopped and the last , weakening softly , beat a few strokes more , then ceased to fret the frosty birth-hour of another year . The darkness slipped away , and Blanchard who had long learned to rise without awakening his wife , was up and dressed again soon after five o'clock . He descended silently , placed a letter on the mantelpiece in the kitchen , abstracted a leg of goose and a hunch of bread from the larder , then set out upon a chilly walk of five miles to Moreton Hampstead . From there he designed to take train and proceed to Plymouth as directly and speedily as possible . Some two hours later Will 's letter found itself in Mr. Lyddon 's hand , and his father-in-law learnt the secret .