ten o'clock
`` We are the best judges of that , my lad , '' he said . `` You can tell your father and mother that , as a Lancashire man , I 'm proud of you . '' It was on a Saturday in December when Tom arrived in Brunford on leave of absence . He had spent Friday in London , and caught the ten o'clock train at King 's Cross Station . There was no prouder lad in England that day , although , truth to tell , he was not quite happy . Naturally he had read what had been written about him in the newspapers , and reflected upon what the people in Brunford would be saying about him . He imagined meeting people whom he knew , in the Brunford streets , and the greeting they would give him .