eight
o'clock
His hope was that she would leave the house alone in the course of the morning . It has been mentioned that a railway bridge crossed the road a short distance beyond the Hoods ' house . On the embankment beyond this bridge , twenty or thirty yards from the road , was a cluster of small trees and shrubs , railed in from the grass which elsewhere grew upon the slope , and from the field at its foot . Here , just hidden behind a hawthorn bush and a climbing bramble , Dagworthy placed himself shortly before eight o'clock on Saturday morning , having approached the spot by a long circuit of trespass ; from this position he had a complete view of the house he wished to watch . He came thus early because he thought it possible that Emily accompanied her father on his morning 's walk into Dunfield ; in which case he would follow at a distance , and find his opportunity as the girl returned . There had been rain in the night , and his passage through the bushes covered him with moisture ; the thick grass , too , in which he stood , was so wet that before long his feet grew damp and cold . He was little mindful of bodily discomfort ; never moving his eyes for a moment from the door which would give Emily to his view , he knew nothing but the impatience which made it incredible that his watch could keep pace with time ; he seemed to have been waiting for hours when yet it was only half-past eight .