ten o'clock at night
I 'll be back in a few minutes . '' It was for this work and for this purpose that Henry Darlington came to his mother just at the moment the absence of Miriam and her purpose in leaving had been discovered . The effect of the painful news on the young man has already been described . From the time he became aware of the fact that Miriam had gone away with Burton for the purpose of becoming his wife , until ten o'clock at night , he was in an agony of suspense . As the uncle could not be found at the office where he wrote , nor at the house where he boarded , it was concluded that he had reached the boat before its departure , and gone on with the fugitives in the train to New York . Nothing was therefore left for the distressed family but to await his return . How anxiously passed the hours !