twelve o'clock
Perhaps the reason was that he could not conceive Hetty 's throwing herself on Arthur uncalled ; he imagined no cause that could have driven her to such a step , after that letter written in August . There were but two alternatives in his mind : either Arthur had written to her again and enticed her away , or she had simply fled from her approaching marriage with himself because she found , after all , she could not love him well enough , and yet was afraid of her friends ' anger if she retracted . With this last determination on his mind , of going straight to Arthur , the thought that he had spent two days in inquiries which had proved to be almost useless , was torturing to Adam ; and yet , since he would not tell the Poysers his conviction as to where Hetty was gone , or his intention to follow her thither , he must be able to say to them that he had traced her as far as possible . It was after twelve o'clock on Tuesday night when Adam reached Treddleston ; and , unwilling to disturb his mother and Seth , and also to encounter their questions at that hour , he threw himself without undressing on a bed at the `` Waggon Overthrown , '' and slept hard from pure weariness . Not more than four hours , however , for before five o'clock he set out on his way home in the faint morning twilight . He always kept a key of the workshop door in his pocket , so that he could let himself in ; and he wished to enter without awaking his mother , for he was anxious to avoid telling her the new trouble himself by seeing Seth first , and asking him to tell her when it should be necessary . He walked gently along the yard , and turned the key gently in the door ; but , as he expected , Gyp , who lay in the workshop , gave a sharp bark .