about eleven o'clock
We received the news on the Saturday evening , and Tom was to suffer on the Tuesday morning . I could no longer refuse the appeals of Mary ; indeed , I received a letter from Tom , requesting that all of us , the Dominie included , would come down and bid him farewell . I hired a carriage for old Tom , his wife , Stapleton , and Mary , and putting the Dominie and myself in my own chariot , we set off early on the Sunday morning for Maidstone . We arrived about eleven o'clock , and put up at an inn in close proximity to the barracks . It was arranged that the Dominie and I should see Tom first , then his father and mother , and lastly , Mary Stapleton . `` Verily , '' said the Dominie , `` my heart is heavy , exceeding heavy ; my soul yearneth after the poor lad , who is thus to lose his life for a woman -- a woman from whose toils I did myself escape . Yet is she exceeding fair and comely , and now that it is unavailing , appeareth to be penitent . ''