four in the morning
We did not tell his mother that I was going , for he said it would be better not . In the morning he would simply let her know I was going over to Guernsey . No communication had ever passed between the old woman and me except by signs , yet I should miss even her in that cold , careless crowd in which I was about to be lost , in the streets of London . We started at four in the morning , while the gray sky was dappled over with soft clouds , and the sea itself seemed waking up from sleep , as if it too had been slumbering through the night . The morning mist upon the cliffs made them look mysterious , as if they had some secrets to conceal . Untrodden tracks climbed the surface of the rocks , and were lost in the fine filmy haze . The water looked white and milky , with lines across it like the tracks on the cliffs , which no human foot could tread ; and the tide was coming back to the shore with a low , tranquil , yet sad moan .