four o'clock in the afternoon
The attorney 's clerk whom they saw , when he learned that Sam Brattle was not yet in Salisbury , expressed an opinion as to that young man 's iniquity which led Carry to think that he was certainly in more danger than either of the prisoners . As they left the office , she suggested to her father that a message should be immediately sent to Bullhampton after Sam . `` Let ` un be , '' said the miller ; and it was all that he did say . On that evening they retired to the interior of one of the bedrooms at Trotter 's Buildings , at four o'clock in the afternoon , and did not leave the house again . Anything more dreary than those hours could not be imagined . The miller , who was accustomed to work hard all day and then to rest , did not know what to do with his limbs . Carry , seeing his misery , and thinking rather of that than her own , suggested to him that they should go out and walk round the town .