Three o'clock
Her presence imparted an indescribable grace and faint witchery to the whole edifice . In other respects , it was a substantial , jolly-looking mansion , and seemed fit to be the residence of a patriarch , who might establish his own headquarters in the front gable and assign one of the remainder to each of his six children , while the great chimney in the centre should symbolize the old fellow 's hospitable heart , which kept them all warm , and made a great whole of the seven smaller ones . There was a vertical sundial on the front gable ; and as the carpenter passed beneath it , he looked up and noted the hour . `` Three o'clock ! '' said he to himself . `` My father told me that dial was put up only an hour before the old Colonel 's death . How truly it has kept time these seven-and-thirty years past !