Four o'clock
Instead , he sat at his table and with stiff awkward fingers wrote letter after letter , each of which he tossed impatiently into the waste-basket . They were all to Nance , and they all tried in vain to express the pent-up emotion that had filled his heart for years . Somewhere down-stairs a clock struck one , but he kept doggedly at his task . Four o'clock found him still seated at the table , but his tired head had dropped on his folded arms , and he slept . Outside the wind rose higher and higher , and the lightning split the heavens in blinding flashes . Suddenly a deafening crash of thunder shook the house , and Dan started to his feet . A moment later the telephone bell rang .