three o'clock p.m.
I replied , that nothing ailed me save anxiety of mind , which I hoped soon to alleviate . It was easy to make my further arrangements ; for I was troubled with no inquiries -- no surmises . Having once explained to them that I could not now be explicit about my plans , they kindly and wisely acquiesced in the silence with which I pursued them , according to me the privilege of free action I should under similar circumstances have accorded them . I left Moor House at three o'clock p.m. , and soon after four I stood at the foot of the sign-post of Whitcross , waiting the arrival of the coach which was to take me to distant Thornfield . Amidst the silence of those solitary roads and desert hills , I heard it approach from a great distance . It was the same vehicle whence , a year ago , I had alighted one summer evening on this very spot -- how desolate , and hopeless , and objectless ! It stopped as I beckoned .