eleven
o'clock
Hitherto , as far as words went , Aunt Sarah had told very little of her mind to Mary Lowther on the subject of her engagement , but she had spoken as yet no word of congratulation ; and Mary knew that the manner in which she proposed to bestow herself was not received with favour by any of her relatives at Loring . Bullhampton unfortunately was at the end of the postman 's walk , and as the man came all the way from Lavington , letters were seldom received much before eleven o'clock . Now this was a most pernicious arrangement , in respect to which Mr. Fenwick carried on a perpetual feud with the Post-office authorities , having put forward a great postal doctrine that letters ought to be rained from heaven on to everybody 's breakfast-table exactly as the hot water is brought in for tea . He , being an energetic man , carried on a long and angry correspondence with the authorities aforesaid ; but the old man from Lavington continued to toddle into the village just at eleven o'clock . It was acknowledged that ten was his time ; but , as he argued with himself , ten and eleven were pretty much of a muchness . The consequence of this was , that Mary Lowther 's letters to Mrs. Fenwick had been read by her two or three hours before she had an opportunity of speaking on the subject to her husband . At last , however , he returned , and she flew at him with the letter in her hand .