eleven o'clock
The sexton rested on his shovel and looked after him for a few moments , and then began banking up the mound . In those short minutes of treading in the dead man Barnet had formed a design , but what it was the inhabitants of that town did not for some long time imagine . He went home , wrote several letters of business , called on his lawyer , an old man of the same place who had been the legal adviser of Barnet 's father before him , and during the evening overhauled a large quantity of letters and other documents in his possession . By eleven o'clock the heap of papers in and before Barnet 's grate had reached formidable dimensions , and he began to burn them . This , owing to their quantity , it was not so easy to do as he had expected , and he sat long into the night to complete the task . The next morning Barnet departed for London , leaving a note for Downe to inform him of Mrs. Barnet 's sudden death , and that he was gone to bury her ; but when a thrice-sufficient time for that purpose had elapsed , he was not seen again in his accustomed walks , or in his new house , or in his old one . He was gone for good , nobody knew whither .