about ten in the
morning
These were my words ; but I knew better . After all my study of Mr. Bellairs , one discovery had been reserved for the last moment : that of his latent and essential madness . Long before I was awake , the shyster had disappeared , leaving his bill unpaid . I did not need to inquire where he was gone , I knew too well , I knew there was nothing left me but to follow ; and about ten in the morning , set forth in a gig for Stallbridge-le-Carthew . The road , for the first quarter of the way , deserts the valley of the river , and crosses the summit of a chalk-down , grazed over by flocks of sheep and haunted by innumerable larks . It was a pleasant but a vacant scene , arousing but not holding the attention ; and my mind returned to the violent passage of the night before . My thought of the man I was pursuing had been greatly changed .