nearly eight o'clock
It was indispensable that she should be made to understand what sort of man this precious poet was known to be , and how impossible it had become that a sister of his should continue to treat him as a friend . Why , the fellow might be -- probably was -- a murderer ! And , if not that , at all events there was such a mystery surrounding him , and such an indelible stain upon his character , that he , Sydney Campion , could not suffer her to continue that most objectionable acquaintance . But his duties conspired with his dinner to prevent the visit from being made before the evening , and it was nearly eight o'clock when he arrived at Hammersmith . He had dined with a friend in Holborn , and had taken a Metropolitan train at Farringdon Street , though , as a rule , he held himself aloof from the poison-traps of London , as he was pleased to call the underground railway , and travelled mostly in the two-wheeled gondolas which so lightly float on the surface of the stream above . As he was about to leave the station , his eye encountered a face and figure which attracted him , and made him almost involuntarily come to a standstill . It was Milly Harrington , Lettice 's maid , who , having posted her mistress ' letter to Alan Walcott , had turned her listless steps in this direction .