eight
o'clock in the morning
He was convinced that if this work could be done at all , he alone could do it ; and she influenced Robert Boulger and Dick Lomas to use such means as they could to prevent anything from being done . She was certain that all Alec needed was time and a free hand . But the monotonous round of Lucy 's life , with its dreams and its fond imaginings , was interrupted by news of a different character . An official letter came to her from Parkhurst to say that the grave state of her father 's health had decided the authorities to remit the rest of his sentence , and he would be set free the next day but one at eight o'clock in the morning . She knew not whether to feel relief or sorrow ; for if she was thankful that the wretched man 's long torture was ended , she could not but realise that his liberty was given him only because he was dying . Mercy had been shown him , and Fred Allerton , in sight of a freedom from which no human laws could bar him , was given up to die among those who loved him . Lucy went down immediately to the Isle of Wight , and there engaged rooms in the house of a woman who had formerly served her at Hamlyn 's Purlieu .