Eight
in the morning
For this delay he had his own motives . He wished to collect his thoughts , strangely agitated as they were , first by the melancholy news of Effie Deans 's situation , and afterwards by the frightful scene which he had witnessed . In the situation also in which he stood with respect to Jeanie and her father , some ceremony , at least some choice of fitting time and season , was necessary to wait upon them . Eight in the morning was then the ordinary hour for breakfast , and he resolved that it should arrive before he made his appearance in their cottage . Never did hours pass so heavily . Butler shifted his place and enlarged his circle to while away the time , and heard the huge bell of St. Giles 's toll each successive hour in swelling tones , which were instantly attested by those of the other steeples in succession . He had heard seven struck in this manner , when he began to think he might venture to approach nearer to St. Leonard 's , from which he was still a mile distant .