eight
o'clock
In the secret of her heart she more than once wished and longed for some appalling calamity -- something which might have power to engage all her thoughts and all her mind . The anguish of her heart , arising out of her love for Lord Chetwynde , had grown so intolerable that any thing , even danger , even discovery , even death itself , seemed welcome now . It was this feeling which filled her as she went on to ask Gualtier about the nature of the danger which he had escaped , wishing to know what it might be , yet indifferent to it except so far as it might prove to be a distraction to her cares . When Gualtier last vanished from the scene he had sent the boy to his lodging-house , with the agreement that he should meet him at eight o'clock . The boy 's visit and its results have already been narrated . As for Gualtier , he was profoundly conscious all the while of the possibility that a trap might be laid for him , and that , if this were the case , the advent of his messenger would be seized upon by those who might be in pursuit of him , so as to get on his track . The very cautiousness which had caused him to seek out so carefully a proper messenger , and instruct him in the part which he was to play , kept him on the anxious look-out for the progress of events .