eight o’clock
Then comes the storm from the Western seas , wrestles with the sturdy trunk , and breaks it ; and the shattered branches fly to all the four corners of the heavens . No wonder , then , like a tree that has lost its crown , his strength is broken and he expects but to smoulder into the earth and die . Bjarne Blakstad , like the sturdy old patriot that he was , had always fiercely denounced the America rage ; and it was now the hope of his daughters that , perhaps , he had stayed behind to remind the restless ones among the youth of their duty toward their land , or to frighten some bold emigration agent who might have been too loud in his declamations . But it was already eight o'clock and Bjarne was not yet to be seen . The night was dark and stormy ; a cold sleet fiercely lashed the window-panes , and the wind roared in the chimney . Grimhild , the younger sister , ran restlessly out and in and slammed the doors after her . Brita sat tightly pressed up against the wall in the darkest corner of the room .