ten
minutes to eleven
Home I trudged to Ham with horrible forebodings , and back again to Richmond after breakfast next morning . Still there was nothing . I could bear it no more . At ten minutes to eleven I was climbing the station stairs at Earl 's Court . It was a wretched morning there , a weeping mist shrouding the long , straight street , and clinging to one 's face in clammy caresses . I felt how much better it was down at Ham , as I turned into our side street , and saw the flats looming like mountains , the chimney-pots hidden in the mist . At our entrance stood a nebulous conveyance , that I took at first for a tradesman 's van ; to my horror it proved to be a hearse ; and all at once the white breath ceased upon my lips .