One
o'clock
`` Never mind me ; he will soon be home . I expect him about one . '' She went back to her room , and dozed and woke several times . One o'clock had been the hour of his return on the last occasion ; but it passed now by a long way , and Fitzpiers did not come . Just before dawn she heard the men stirring in the yard ; and the flashes of their lanterns spread every now and then through her window-blind . She remembered that her father had told her not to be disturbed if she noticed them , as they would be rising early to send off four loads of hurdles to a distant sheep-fair . Peeping out , she saw them bustling about , the hollow-turner among the rest ; he was loading his wares -- wooden-bowls , dishes , spigots , spoons , cheese-vats , funnels , and so on -- upon one of her father 's wagons , who carried them to the fair for him every year out of neighborly kindness .