nine o'clock
It was not until almost a year afterward that those whose lives fate had briefly linked with his , read in a newspaper a lengthy account of his capture in a town a long distance from the territory surrounding the lumber camp . The news that he had been placed in an asylum for the insane was a matter of relief to all concerned . * * * * * On the very afternoon that Tom Gray was carried into the overseer 's yard Grace Harlowe and J. Elfreda Briggs were making arrangements to leave Oakdale for a brief visit to Emma Dean at Overton College . They had planned to depart for Overton on the nine o'clock train the next morning , little dreaming of the remarkable upheaval that was soon to take place in their plans . Having waited long and patiently for news from the north Grace was feeling the suspense most keenly . She had expected so much from Jean that with each day 's dawn the struggle to maintain a hopeful aspect grew more difficult . It was now over two weeks since Jean had departed from Oakdale , and aside from two brief letters from David , written during the first week of the renewed search for Tom Gray , she had heard nothing further from him .