ten o’clock in the morning
She heard the two lovers come in early and go upstairs , and she heard her father fastening up the doors and windows for the night . Then stillness gradually settled down and she fell asleep . Later , in her dreams , there echoed the sound of hastening hoofs far down the deserted street and over the old covered bridge , but she took no note of any sound , and the weary household slept on . The wedding was set for ten o'clock in the morning , after which there was to be a wedding breakfast and the married couple were to start immediately for their new home . David had driven the day before with his own horse and chaise to a town some twenty miles away , and there left his horse at a tavern to rest for the return trip , for Kate would have it that they must leave the house in high style . So the finest equipage the town afforded had been secured to bear them on the first stage of their journey , with a portly negro driver and everything according to the custom of the greatest of the land . Nothing that Kate desired about the arrangements had been left undone .