eight o'clock
Therefore when I had put Ethelwynn into a cab , and had bade farewell to Sir Bernard and received certain private instructions from him , we walked together into the narrow , rather dirty High Street of Brentford , the county town of Middlesex . The inn we entered was close to a soap works , the odour from which was not conducive to a good appetite , but we obtained a room to ourselves and ate our meal of cold beef almost in silence . `` I was up early this morning , '' Ambler observed at last . `` I was at Kew at eight o'clock . '' `` Why ? '' `` In the night an idea struck me , and when such ideas occur I always seek to put them promptly into action . '' `` What was the idea ? ''