eight o'clock
They had tea together in the big cold drawing-room , and then came the time to say good-bye , and Mrs. Avory pleaded to walk to the station for the sake of one last talk together , and her watch -- which never kept scrupulous time -- deceiving her as to the hour , she missed the last train at the little branch station at Hulworth , and then wondered tearfully , and with an access of nervousness which rendered her almost hysterical , what she should do . Toffy had a Bradshaw twelve months old which he promised to consult if Mrs. Avory would walk back with him across the fields again to the house . He consoled her as best he could , and assured her that it would be all right . And Mrs. Cosby , who was really a great woman at a crisis , suggested suddenly and with brilliance that there was a train from the main station ten miles off at eight o'clock , and that the motor , if it did not break down , might take them there in half an hour . She provided warm wraps for the lady , and Nigel found rugs for her ; and when all had been arranged , and she who got so little pleasure started for a moonlight drive in the cold crisp air , with Nigel taking care of her and wrapping her up warmly in rugs and furs , Mrs. Avory felt with a sudden rush of that joy of which she had so little experience that all had turned out happily and for the best . It was not Toffy 's fault upon this occasion that the motor-car came to grief . Mr. Lawrence 's big Panhard ran into them when they were seven miles from home , and Mrs. Avory was taken back to Hulworth insensible and with a broken arm .