eight in the evening
I should spend a disproportionate amount of my limited time in trains , and I should want a different disguise . Besides , I had already learnt something fresh about Böhme ; for the seed dropped at Emden Station yesterday had come to life . A submarine engineer I knew him to be before ; I now knew that canals were another branch of his labours -- not a very illuminating fact ; but could I pick up more in a single day ? There remained Esens , and it was thither I resolved to go to-night -- a tedious journey , lasting till past eight in the evening ; but there I should only be an hour from Norden by rail . And at Esens ? All day long I strove for light on the central mystery , collecting from my diary , my memory , my imagination , from the map , the time-table , and Davies 's grubby jottings , every elusive atom of material . Sometimes I issued from a reverie with a start , to find a phlegmatic Dutch peasant staring strangely at me over his china pipe .