seven o'clock
_ `` Gent in furred coat turned up 2.10 , took a ticket for Derby , 1 class , took ticket for same place self , 2 class . -- Yrs to commd , T.T. '' _ Mr. Carter crumpled up the note and dropped it into his pocket . The station-master gave him all the information about the trains . There was a train for Derby at seven o'clock that evening ; and for the three and a half weary hours that must intervene , Mr. Carter was left to amuse himself as best he might . `` Derby , '' he muttered to himself , `` Derby . Why , he must be going north ; and what , in the name of all that 's miraculous , takes him that way ? '' The railway journey between Shorncliffe and Derby was by no means the most pleasant expedition for a cold spring night , with the darkness lying like a black shroud on the flat fields , and a melancholy wind howling over those desolate regions , across which all night-trains seem to wend their way .