The little newspaper which Aleck had subscribed for was a Thursday sheet; it would make the trip of five hundred miles from Tilbury's village and arrive on Saturday.

Tilbury's letter had started on Friday, more than a day too late for the benefactor to die and get into that week's issue, but in plenty of time to make connection for the next output.

Thus the Fosters had to wait almost a complete week to find out whether anything of a satisfactory nature had happened to him or not.
It was a long, long week, and the strain was a heavy one.

The pair could hardly have borne it if their minds had not had the relief of wholesome diversion.

We have seen that they had that.