midday
'T is the theayter ! There 's a hundred burnt a ` ready , and the rest treadin ' each other 's lives out while we stand talkin ' , to get ` pon the roof and pitch theirselves over ! '' Now the engine-driver 's wife was going to the play that night , and he knew it . She had met him at the station , and told him so , at midday . But there was nobody to take the train on , if he stepped off the engine ; for his fireman was a young hand , and had been learning his trade for less than three weeks . So when the five minutes were up -- or rather , ten , for the porters were bewildered that night -- this man went on out of the station into the night . Just beyond the station the theatre was plain to see , above the hill on his left , and the flames were leaping from the roof ; and he knew that his wife was there .