eight o'clock
In these days were many councils at Fairview and in the offices of the Honourable Hilary Vane at Ripton ; councils behind closed doors , from which the councillors emerged with smiling faces that men might not know the misgivings in their hearts ; councils , nevertheless , out of which leaked rumours of dissension and recrimination conditions hitherto unheard of . One post ran to meet another , and one messenger ran to meet another ; and it was even reported -- though on doubtful authority -- after the rally in his town the Honourable Jacob Botcher had made the remark that , under certain conditions , he might become a reformer . None of these upsetting rumours , however , were allowed by Mr. Bascom and other gentlemen close to the Honourable Adam B. Hunt to reach that candidate , who continued to smoke in tranquillity on the porch of his home until the fifteenth day of August . At eight o'clock that morning the postman brought him a letter marked personal , the handwriting on which he recognized as belonging to the Honourable Hilary Vane . For some reason , as he read , the sensations of the Honourable Adam were disquieting ; the contents of the letter , to say the least , were peculiar . `` To-morrow , at noon precisely , I shall be driving along the Broad Brook road by the abandoned mill -- three miles towards Edmundton from Hull . I hope you will find it convenient to be there . ''