the hour of eight
`` Come here , '' she wrote , `` on Friday next , at any time before two o'clock , and Syd shall be ready for you . P.S. -- I am to be married again on Thursday , and start for America with my husband and my boy by next Saturday 's steamer . '' The letter was posted ; and the mother 's anxious mind was , to use her own phrase , relieved of another worry . As the hour of eight drew near on Wednesday evening , Mrs. Westerfield 's anxiety forced her to find relief in action of some kind . She opened the door of her sitting-room and listened on the stairs . It still wanted for a few minutes to eight o'clock , when there was a ring at the house-bell . She ran down to open the door .