noon
Mixen Lane , in the Durnover quarter , and in Maumbry 's parish , was where the blow fell most heavily . Yet there was a certain mercy in its choice of a date , for Maumbry was the man for such an hour . The spread of the epidemic was so rapid that many left the town and took lodgings in the villages and farms . Mr. Maumbry 's house was close to the most infected street , and he himself was occupied morn , noon , and night in endeavours to stamp out the plague and in alleviating the sufferings of the victims . So , as a matter of ordinary precaution , he decided to isolate his wife somewhere away from him for a while . She suggested a village by the sea , near Budmouth Regis , and lodgings were obtained for her at Creston , a spot divided from the Casterbridge valley by a high ridge that gave it quite another atmosphere , though it lay no more than six miles off . Thither she went .