two o'clock
A keeper 's wife with whom Julia had got acquainted had promised her a pair of lop-eared rabbits if she could come and fetch them . She was not very anxious to have them , but Mr. Gillat was ; he said they would be very profitable . Julia doubted this ; but , since he wanted them , she said they would have them , and accordingly , one morning , they started together with a basket for the rabbits . They started directly after breakfast for they had to go a long way across the heath and could not at the best be back before two o'clock . Captain Polkington watched them go , standing at the cottage door until their figures were small on the great expanse of heather . Then he went in and , sitting down , wrote a hasty note to Julia ; it was to the effect that he had been obliged to go into town , but would be back by dark or soon after . It read as quite a casual communication , as if he were in the habit of going into town frequently and had much business to transact .