one o'clock
Meanwhile Mr. Benham , having no affairs to trouble him , and no more business to transact , stayed where he was . At an early hour on Sunday all Kirton seemed astir . The streets were alive with thronging people , with banners , with inchoate and still amorphous processions , with vendors of meat , drink , and newspapers . According to the official arrangements , the proceedings were not to begin till one o'clock , and , in theory , the forenoon hours were left undisturbed ; but , what with the people who were taking part in the demonstration , and those who were going to look on , and those who hoped to suck some profit to themselves out of the day 's work , the ordinary duties and observances of a Sunday were largely neglected , and Mr. Puttock , passing on his way to chapel at the head of his family , did not lack material for reprobation in the temporary superseding of religious obligations . The Governor and his family drove to the Cathedral , according to their custom , Eleanor Scaife having pleaded in vain for leave to walk about the streets instead . Lady Eynesford declined to recognise the occasion , and Eleanor had to content herself with stealthy glances to right and left till the church doors engulfed her . The only absentee was Alicia Derosne , and she was not walking about the streets , but sitting under the verandah , with a book unopened on her knees , and her eyes set in empty fixedness on the horizon .