four
o'clock
The last talk of their lives alone together was ended . * * * * * He had made all his plans . He had decided that on the day of escape he would walk over to Salis Coombe station , a matter of some two miles ; there he would be joined by Annie , whose aunt lived near there , and to whom she could go on a visit the evening before . They would catch the slow four o'clock train to Drymouth and then meet the express that reached London at midnight . He would go to an Oxford friend who lived in St. John 's Wood , and he and Annie would be married as soon as possible . Beyond everything else he wanted this marriage to take place quickly ; once that was done he was Annie 's protector , so long as she should need him . She should be free as she pleased , but she would have some one to whom she might go , some one who could legally provide for her and would see that she came to no harm .