midnight
With an oath , Learoyd saddled his mare and rode in all haste to Holmton . Finding no news of the missing couple in the town he made his way to the nearest station , where he found that a man and woman answering to his description had left by train for Liverpool four hours before . Learoyd , his heart raging with fury and wounded pride , followed in pursuit . He arrived at Liverpool in the early hours of the next morning , and , making his way to the docks , discovered that the fugitives had sailed at midnight for America . Further pursuit was impossible . He returned home , and late that same evening was found lying dead drunk on the road-side within a hundred yards of the local railway station . He was brought home and put to bed , and next day was seized with a severe fit of epilepsy .