a quarter to eight o’clock
`` Quite right , my dear ! '' he thought . `` I remember where your despair led you in past times ; and I think I may trust it to lead you the same way now . '' At a quarter to eight o'clock that night Mr. Bashwood took up his post of observation , as usual , on the platform of the terminus at London Bridge . He was in the highest good spirits ; he smiled and smirked in irrepressible exultation . The sense that he held in reserve a means of influence over Miss Gwilt , in virtue of his knowledge of her past career , had had no share in effecting the transformation that now appeared in him . It had upheld his courage in his forlorn life at Thorpe Ambrose , and it had given him that increased confidence of manner which Miss Gwilt herself had noticed ; but , from the moment when he had regained his old place in her favor , it had vanished as a motive power in him , annihilated by the electric shock of her touch and her look .