three o'clock
As for me , I sat there at the foot of that ghostly staircase -- sat , because my knees would n't hold me -- and wondered where it would all end . Louise was still unconscious , but she was breathing better , and I suggested that we get her back to bed before she came to . There was something grisly and horrible to me , seeing her there in almost the same attitude and in the same place where we had found her brother 's body . And to add to the similarity , just then the hall clock , far off , struck faintly three o'clock . It was four before Louise was able to talk , and the first rays of dawn were coming through her windows , which faced the east , before she could tell us coherently what had occurred . I give it as she told it . She lay propped in bed , and Halsey sat beside her , unrebuffed , and held her hand while she talked .