a quarter past nine
An inexpressible repugnance then affected him ; he would have welcomed any disaster to the train , any injury which might prevent his going to Monica at such a time . Often , in anticipation , the event which was now come to pass had confused and darkened his mind ; he loathed the thought of it . If the child , perhaps already born , were in truth his , it must be very long before he could regard it with a shadow of paternal interest ; uncertainty , to which he was condemned , would in all likelihood make it an object of aversion to him as long as he lived . He was at Bristol by a quarter past nine , and had to change for a slow train , which by ten o'clock brought him to Yatton , the little junction for Clevedon . It was a fine starry night , but extremely cold . For the few minutes of detention he walked restlessly about the platform . His chief emotion was now a fear lest all might not go well with Monica .