seven o'clock in the
evening
Such a contention would be absolutely absurd . I must beg you to dismiss it altogether from your mind , and approach it from a different standpoint , altogether . Divested of this extraneous business , the matter is a most simple one . `` The prisoner left his mother 's cottage , at seven o'clock in the evening , to go over for an hour or two to his friend Mr. Shrewsbury , the schoolmaster of Tipping . He took with him a few tools , as he had promised to put some shelves in his friend 's house . On the way he heard some talking down a lane , which he knew led to only a field . Thinking it strange , he went to see who it was and , some distance down , he found a horse and cart standing and , listening to the conversation of two men who were sitting under the hedge , he heard enough to inform him that a burglary was intended upon the house of Mr. Ellison .