about seven o'clock
I did not hear her come back ; for Cousin Tom 's footsteps were loud in the kitchen passage ; and the men too were tramping in and upstairs , while the maids went back to bed through the kitchen ; and then , when all was quiet again I heard her voice speak suddenly in a whisper . `` You can open now , Cousin Roger , they be all gone away . '' I unbolted and pushed open the little door quickly enough then ; and though I was dazed with the candlelight the first thing that I saw was Dolly 's face , her eyes as bright as stars with merriment and laughter , and her cheeks flushed to rose , looking up at me . That ride of mine all night to London was such as I shall never forget , not from any outward incident that happened , but for the thoughts that went continually through my heart and brain ; and I do not suppose that I spoke twenty words to James all night , until we saw about seven o'clock the smoke and spires of London against the morning sky . * * * * * So soon as the coast was clear , and the last sound of the horses was died away on the hill beyond the Castle Inn -- for the men rode fast and hard to catch me -- I was out and away in the opposite direction , to Puckeridge ; but first we brought the horses back as softly as we could , with James -LRB- who , like a good servant had not stirred an inch from his orders through all the tumult which he had heard plainly enough from the meadow -RRB- , round to the head of the little lane that leads from Hormead Magna into Hare Street . There we waited , I say , all four of us in silence , until we heard the hoofs no more ; and then James and I mounted on our horses . I had said scarcely a word to Dorothy , nor she to me ; for we both felt , I think , that there was no great need of words after such an adventure , and that it had knit us closer together than any words could do ; and , besides , that was no place to talk .