seven o'clock
He would be prudent and Europe was wide , and he meant to leave English grants and securities severely alone . He had mused and pondered on his plans all day . The evening found him half-exhausted with nerve-strain , febrile and almost sick with the agony of waiting . He had calculated that Sue would be free towards seven o'clock , as he had given Editha strict injunctions to keep discreetly out of the way , whilst at a previous meeting in the park , it had been arranged that the young girl should come to the cottage with the money , on the evening of her twenty-first birthday and there hand her fortune over to her rightful lord . Now Sir Marmaduke cursed himself and his folly for having made this arrangement . He had not known -- when he made it -- that Richard would be back at Acol then . Adam the smith , never came home before eight o'clock and the old Quakeress herself would not have been much in the way .