one o'clock
Once the idea had taken root in my mind , I was impatient to carry it out . I would go , I decided , almost immediately , lunching at the nearest decent inn to Purley Lock , and turning up at Wildred 's house at four or five in the afternoon . I would spend an hour there , perhaps , and return to town in time for dinner . I had not got up particularly early , had breakfasted late , and by the time I was inclined to start it was past one o'clock . I had over an hour 's journey to Great Marlow , the nearest railway station , with a drive of some four miles to follow , before I could reach the Chimes Inn , which I was told was the only one within some distance of Purley Lock . It was a quaint old hostelry I found , and an agreeable landlord , who had hardly expected guests at so out-of-the-way a place on Christmas Day , and having finished his own midday repast , was very ready for a gossip with me . Oh , yes , he said , he knew the House by the Lock , quite well .