about eight
o'clock
It must be said that he was very far indeed from divining that his injudicious peace-offering of the flowers had stirred into life such a wearing , anxious , hopeful , despairing solicitude as this , which had been latent for some time during his constant meetings with the little stranger . She vanished in the mist towards the left , and the loiterers in the hut began to move and open the door , remarking , ` Now then for Wyndway House , a change of clothes , and a dinner . ' The last light of a winter day had gone down behind the houses of Sandbourne , and night was shut close over all . Christopher , about eight o'clock , was standing at the end of the pier with his back towards the open sea , whence the waves were pushing to the shore in frills and coils that were just rendered visible in all their bleak instability by the row of lights along the sides of the jetty , the rapid motion landward of the wavetips producing upon his eye an apparent progress of the pier out to sea . This pier-head was a spot which Christopher enjoyed visiting on such moaning and sighing nights as the present , when the sportive and variegated throng that haunted the pier on autumn days was no longer there , and he seemed alone with weather and the invincible sea . Somebody came towards him along the deserted footway , and rays from the nearest lamp streaked the face of his sister Faith . ' O Christopher , I knew you were here , ' she said eagerly .