about eleven o'clock
I 'll send there and inquire . ' No ! the messenger brought back word that he had not been seen at their bank all morning . Further inquiries were made by the anxious Hester , by the doctor , by Coulson ; all they could learn was that Phoebe had seen him pass the kitchen window about eleven o'clock , when she was peeling the potatoes for dinner ; and two lads playing on the quay-side thought they had seen him among a group of sailors ; but these latter , as far as they could be identified , had no knowledge of his appearance among them . Before night the whole town was excited about his disappearance . Before night Bell Robson had gone to her long home . And Sylvia still lay quiet and tearless , apparently more unmoved than any other creature by the events of the day , and the strange vanishing of her husband .