ten o’clock
The porter had not noticed young Mr. Springrove get out of the train , at which intelligence the old man concluded that he would probably not see his son till the next day , as Edward had hitherto made a point of coming by the train which had brought Mrs. Manston . Half-an-hour later the porter left the inn , Springrove at the same time going to the door to listen again an instant , then he walked round and in at the back of the house . The farmer glanced at the heap casually and indifferently in passing ; two nights of safety seemed to ensure the third ; and he was about to bolt and bar as usual , when the idea struck him that there was just a possibility of his son 's return by the latest train , unlikely as it was that he would be so delayed . The old man thereupon left the door unfastened , looked to his usual matters indoors , and went to bed , it being then half-past ten o'clock . Farmers and horticulturists well know that it is in the nature of a heap of couch-grass , when kindled in calm weather , to smoulder for many days , and even weeks , until the whole mass is reduced to a powdery charcoal ash , displaying the while scarcely a sign of combustion beyond the volcano-like smoke from its summit ; but the continuance of this quiet process is throughout its length at the mercy of one particular whim of Nature : that is , a sudden breeze , by which the heap is liable to be fanned into a flame so brisk as to consume the whole in an hour or two . Had the farmer narrowly watched the pile when he went to close the door , he would have seen , besides the familiar twine of smoke from its summit , a quivering of the air around the mass , showing that a considerable heat had arisen inside . As the railway-porter turned the corner of the row of houses adjoining the Three Tranters , a brisk new wind greeted his face , and spread past him into the village .