two o'clock
When they arose he turned quiet smiling eyes on his young friend as he said : `` My dear boy , can you advise me now ? '' `` You do not need advice , sir , '' said Theodore , speaking somewhat huskily and with a reverent touch in his voice . `` Follow the dictates of your own noble soul in this as in everything , and you will be sure to do the best thing . '' It was two o'clock when Theodore applied his own night-key and entered his front door . The gas was still lighted in the back parlor , and thither he went . It was not the back parlor that belonged to the little cottage house near the depot ; not the same house at all , but one larger and finer , and on a handsomer street . The back parlor was nicely , even luxuriously , furnished with that dainty mixture of elegance and home comfort which betokens a refined and cultivated taste .