seven
o'clock
Not one created being had a right to the child but herself ! -- yet any moment he might be taken from her by a cold-hearted , cruel stepmother , and given to a hired woman ! She started to her feet , and hurried on . The boy was no light weight , and she had things to carry besides , which her love said he could not do without ; yet before seven o'clock she had cleared some sixteen miles , in a line from Mortgrange as straight as she could keep . She thought she must now be near a village whose name she knew ; but she dared not show herself lest some advertisement might reach it after she was gone , and lead to the discovery of the route she had taken . She turned aside therefore into an old quarry , there to spend the day , unvisited of human soul . The child was now awake , but still drowsy .