Six o'clock
As thought created the means of successful adventure , and I saw myself moving forward and grasping results , the whole circle of life took a quicker motion , and my mind rose into a pleasant enthusiasm . Then I grew impatient for the initiatory steps that were to come , and felt as if the to-morrow , in which they must be taken , would never appear . A day seemed like a week or a month . Six o'clock found me in not a very satisfactory state of mind . The ardor of my calculations had commenced abating . Certain elements , not seen and considered in the outset , were beginning to assume shape and consequence , and to modify , in many essential particulars , the grand result towards which I had been looking with so much pleasure . Shadowy and indistinct became the landscape , which seemed a little while before so fair and inviting .