two minutes past
seven
He awoke once or twice in the night -- a very rare thing with him ; possibly , so close was their kinship , his father 's disturbed spirit in some obscure and mysterious fashion was striving to warn him , or prepare him for calamitous tidings . In the early morning he slept soundly , and awoke rather later than was his wont ; and , even as he awoke , the square case which Lord Crosland had carried sprang into his mind , and he knew it to be a case of pistols . In a flash everything was clear to him ; his father was going to fight Count Sigismond , and had sent him to Nice to be out of the way . He sprang out of bed , and dashed for his watch ; it was two minutes past seven . They would fight at eight ; he had nearly an hour . In three minutes he was dressed , and racing down the stairs . He met Dorothy coming up .