noon
And then she learned that she had been worrying herself to no purpose whatever . Mr Bittenger was leaving on the morrow , the morrow being Christmas Eve . Stephen would drive him to Bursley in the morning . He would go to the Five Towns Hotel to get his baggage , and catch the Liverpool express at noon . He had booked a passage on the Saxonia , which sailed at threethirty o'clock . Thus he would spend his Christmas at sea ; and , spending his Christmas at sea , he could not possibly kill Stephen in the village of Sneyd on Christmas night . Relief !