about nine o’clock
THE NUN 'S STORY OF GABRIEL 'S MARRIAGE One night , during the period of the first French Revolution , the family of Francois Sarzeau , a fisherman of Brittany , were all waking and watching at a late hour in their cottage on the peninsula of Quiberon . Francois had gone out in his boat that evening , as usual , to fish . Shortly after his departure , the wind had risen , the clouds had gathered ; and the storm , which had been threatening at intervals throughout the whole day , burst forth furiously about nine o'clock . It was now eleven ; and the raging of the wind over the barren , heathy peninsula still seemed to increase with each fresh blast that tore its way out upon the open sea ; the crashing of the waves on the beach was awful to hear ; the dreary blackness of the sky terrible to behold . The longer they listened to the storm , the oftener they looked out at it , the fainter grew the hopes which the fisherman 's family still strove to cherish for the safety of Francois Sarzeau and of his younger son who had gone with him in the boat . There was something impressive in the simplicity of the scene that was now passing within the cottage .