Nearly four o'clock
Suddenly she asked him what time it was . The haggard nobleness of her pale face amid the folds of black veil , the absent passion of the eye , thrilled to his heart . Where were her thoughts ? `` Nearly four o'clock . '' He drew out his watch . `` You see it is beginning to lighten , '' And he pointed to the sky , in which that indefinable lifting of the darkness which precedes the dawn was taking place , and to the far distances of sea , where a sort of livid clarity was beginning to absorb and vanquish that stormy play of alternate dark and moonlight which had prevailed when they left the French shore . He had hardly spoken , when he felt that her eyes were fixed upon him .