eight in the morning
` The man I saw on the Fell looked at least a hundred . I wish you could tell me who he is ; I feel a morbid curiosity about him . ' He went on to describe the old man in the grey coat , as minutely as he could , dwelling on every characteristic of that singular-looking old person ; but Samuel Barlow could not identify the description with any one in Grasmere . Yet a man of that age , seen walking on the hill-side at eight in the morning , could hardly have come from far afield . Although Maulevrier had assured his grandmother that John Hammond would take flight at the first warning of Lesbia 's return , Lady Maulevrier 's dread of any meeting between her granddaughter and that ineligible lover determined her in making such arrangements as should banish Lesbia from Fellside , so long as there seemed the slightest danger of such a meeting . She knew that Lesbia had loved her fortuneless suitor ; and she did not know that the wound was cured , even by a season in the little-great world of Cannes . Now that she , the ruler of that household , was a helpless captive in her own apartments , she felt that Lesbia at Fellside would be her own mistress , and hemmed round with the dangers that beset richly-dowered beauty and inexperienced youth .