about nine in the evening
Shap had been a place owing all such life as it had possessed to coaching and posting . It had been a stage on the high road from Lancaster to Carlisle , and though it lay high and bleak among the fells , and was a cold , windy , thinly-populated place , -- filling all travellers with thankfulness that they had not been made Shappites , nevertheless , it had had its glory in its coaching and posting . I have no doubt that there are men and women who look back with a fond regret to the palmy days of Shap . Vavasor reached the little inn about nine in the evening on a night that was pitchy dark , and in a wind which made it necessary for him to hold his hat on to his head . `` What a beastly country to live in , '' he said to himself , resolving that he would certainly sell Vavasor Hall in spite of all family associations , if ever the power to do so should be his . `` What trash it is , '' he said , `` hanging on to such a place as that without the means of living like a gentleman , simply because one 's ancestors have done so . '' And then he expressed a doubt to himself whether all the world contained a more ignorant , opinionated , useless old man than his grandfather , -- or , in short , a greater fool .