three o'clock in the morning
The day comes like a phantom . Cold , colourless , and vague , it sends a warning streak before it of a deathlike hue , as if it cried out , `` Look what I am bringing you who watch there ! Who will tell him ! '' Esther 's Narrative It was three o'clock in the morning when the houses outside London did at last begin to exclude the country and to close us in with streets . We had made our way along roads in a far worse condition than when we had traversed them by daylight , both the fall and the thaw having lasted ever since ; but the energy of my companion never slackened . It had only been , as I thought , of less assistance than the horses in getting us on , and it had often aided them . They had stopped exhausted half-way up hills , they had been driven through streams of turbulent water , they had slipped down and become entangled with the harness ; but he and his little lantern had been always ready , and when the mishap was set right , I had never heard any variation in his cool , `` Get on , my lads ! ''