five o'clock in the morning
But it was deeper than this ... and his men who had served him for ten or fifteen years looked on him as upon a stranger or a changeling . CHAPTER VII The same Easter Day at Padley was another matter altogether . As early as five o'clock in the morning the house was astir : lights glimmered in upper rooms ; footsteps passed along corridors and across the court ; parties began to arrive . All was done without ostentation , yet without concealment , for Padley was a solitary place , and had no fear , at this time , of a sudden descent of the authorities . For form 's sake -- scarcely for more -- a man kept watch over the valley road , and signalled by the flashing of a lamp twice every party with which he was acquainted , and there were no others than these to signal . A second man waited by the gate into the court to admit them .