one o’clock in the afternoon
`` Nothing , '' answered Silence , `` nothing . '' `` But you did say something . '' `` Nothing , nonsense . I say : to-morrow , at one o'clock in the afternoon ! '' There was a sudden , acute pain in his heart -- and he understood that he would have neither sleep , nor peace , nor joy until that accursed black hour standing out of the dial should have passed . Only the shadow of the knowledge of something which no living being could know stood there in the corner , and that was enough to darken the world and envelop him with the impenetrable gloom of horror . The once disturbed fear of death diffused through his body , penetrated into his bones .