eight o'clock
He set himself , therefore , diligently to discover and separate the one kind from the other , with keen interest . But this is by the way . Phil 's greatest anxiety and care at that time was the salvation of his old friend and former idol , George Aspel . One evening Phil sat in the sorting-room of the General Post-Office with his hand to his head -- for the eight o'clock mail was starting ; his head , eyes , and hands had been unusually active during the past two hours , and when the last bundle of letters dropped from his fingers into the mail-bags , head , eyes , and hands were aching . A row of scarlet vans was standing under a platform , into which mail-bags , apparently innumerable , were being shot . As each of these vans received its quota it rattled off to its particular railway station , at the rate which used , in the olden time , to be deemed the extreme limit of `` haste , haste , post haste . '' The yard began to empty when eight o'clock struck .