eight o'clock
I only want to be doubly fortified , before I risk my confession , by the advice of a scientific man . '' All this I took to mean , in plain English , that vacillating Oscar wanted to quiet his conscience by gaining time , and that his absurd idea of consulting Mr. Sebright was nothing less than a new and plausible excuse for putting off the evil day . His letter ended by pledging me to secrecy , and by entreating me so to manage matters as to grant him a private interview on his return to Dimchurch by the evening train . I confess I felt some curiosity as to what would come of the proposed consultation between unready Oscar and precise Mr. Sebright -- and I accordingly arranged to take my walk alone , towards eight o'clock that evening , on the road that led to the distant railway station . The second incident of the day may be described as a confidential conversation between Lucilla and myself , on the subject which now equally absorbed us both -- the momentous subject of her restoration to the blessing of sight . She joined me at the breakfast-table with her ready distrust newly excited , poor thing , by Oscar . He had accounted to her for his journey to London by putting forward the commonplace excuse of `` business . ''