eight o'clock in the morning
Mr. Woodhouse was almost as glad to see him now , as he would have been sorry to see him before . John Knightley only was in mute astonishment . -- That a man who might have spent his evening quietly at home after a day of business in London , should set off again , and walk half a mile to another man 's house , for the sake of being in mixed company till bed-time , of finishing his day in the efforts of civility and the noise of numbers , was a circumstance to strike him deeply . A man who had been in motion since eight o'clock in the morning , and might now have been still , who had been long talking , and might have been silent , who had been in more than one crowd , and might have been alone ! -- Such a man , to quit the tranquillity and independence of his own fireside , and on the evening of a cold sleety April day rush out again into the world ! -- Could he by a touch of his finger have instantly taken back his wife , there would have been a motive ; but his coming would probably prolong rather than break up the party . John Knightley looked at him with amazement , then shrugged his shoulders , and said , `` I could not have believed it even of _ him _ . ''