seven o'clock
`` I beg your pardon , Mr. Audley , '' he said , `` but if you want to see your uncle , you 'll lose your time by going to the Court just now . Sir Michael and my lady and Miss Alicia have all gone to the races up at Chorley , and they wo n't be back till nigh upon eight o'clock , most likely . They must pass by here to go home . '' Under these circumstances of course it was no use going to the Court , so the two young men strolled through the village and looked at the old church , and then went and reconnoitered the streams in which they were to fish the next day , and by such means beguiled the time until after seven o'clock . At about a quarter past that hour they returned to the inn , and seating themselves in the open window , lit their cigars and looked out at the peaceful prospect . We hear every day of murders committed in the country . Brutal and treacherous murders ; slow , protracted agonies from poisons administered by some kindred hand ; sudden and violent deaths by cruel blows , inflicted with a stake cut from some spreading oak , whose every shadow promised -- peace .