ten o'clock
Early breakfast was ready when he got back to the hotel . He swallowed a cup of coffee so hastily that it burned him , and June , when she passed his window on her way to school , saw him busy over his desk . She started to shout to him , but he looked so haggard and grim that she was afraid , and went on , vaguely hurt by a preoccupation that seemed quite to have excluded her . For two hours then , Hale haggled and bargained , and at ten o'clock he went to the telegraph office . The operator who was speculating in a small way himself smiled when he read the telegram . `` A thousand an acre ? '' he repeated with a whistle .