eight o'clock
The shops thought it very natural that a man who , by importing direct from the producer , had daringly set aside the first great principle of provincial existence , namely that God made country villages to supply customers to county towns , should have confused ideas about the Decalogue . The prompters were a few merciful men who had perhaps too feelingly considered the facts latterly unearthed , and the result was that evidence was taken which it was hoped might remove the crime in a moral point of view , out of the category of wilful murder , and lead it to be regarded as a sheer outcome of madness . The upshot of the petition was waited for in Weatherbury with solicitous interest . The execution had been fixed for eight o'clock on a Saturday morning about a fortnight after the sentence was passed , and up to Friday afternoon no answer had been received . At that time Gabriel came from Casterbridge Gaol , whither he had been to wish Boldwood good-bye , and turned down a by-street to avoid the town . When past the last house he heard a hammering , and lifting his bowed head he looked back for a moment . Over the chimneys he could see the upper part of the gaol entrance , rich and glowing in the afternoon sun , and some moving figures were there .