five o'clock
`` I will take you in my carriage , as before , '' the count said . `` I can get back here before dark . '' Two hours later they started , Thirza consoled to some extent by the assurance that , in all probability , Fergus would be back again in the course of two or three days . They found that the Austrian advanced posts had already been withdrawn , and experienced no difficulty with the Prussians ; so that by five o'clock they arrived at the hospital , the count at once starting on his return journey . Karl was delighted at seeing his master looking himself again . `` I hardly thought that a month could do so much for you , '' he said , `` especially as you were mending but slowly , before you went . '' `` Yes , I was a poor creature then , Karl ; and I did not think , myself , that I should be really fit for work for some time to come ; but at any rate , in such weather as this , I have no fear of breaking down . ''