eleven o'clock
It was evening , and the stars came out and shone by hundreds , and Eric walked on by the moonlight . But the exertion had brought on the pain in his knee , and he had to sit down a long time by the roadside to rest . He reached Ayrton at ten o'clock , but even then he could not summon up courage to pass through the town where he was so well-known , lest any straggler should recognise him , and he took a detour in order to get to Fairholm . He did not arrive there till eleven o'clock ; and then he could not venture into the grounds , for he saw through the trees of the shrubbery that there was no light in any of the windows , and it was clear that they were all gone to bed . What was he to do ? He durst not disturb them so late at night . He remembered that they would not have heard a syllable of or from him since he had run away from Roslyn , and he feared the effect of so sudden an emotion as his appearance at that hour might excite .