midnight
were the next anxious , soul-racking questions that chased each other through his mind . `` Oh , for the strong pinions of the eagle , that I might fly to her at once and satisfy all these anxious doubts , '' he breathed . It was now but six o'clock in the afternoon . The first train for London would not stop at Lone until midnight , and would not reach London until eight o'clock the next morning -- fourteen hours of suspense ! He could not bear that . The telegraph operator was about to close the office . The duke stopped him by saying : `` I wish to send a telegram to London . ''