a quarter to five
From time to time pale shades of bodily pain , and then hot flushes , had flitted across his face , like clouds on a windy summer evening . And more than once he had glanced at the time-piece , not to hurry me , but as if he dreaded its announcements . It was a beautiful clock , and struck with a silvery sound every quarter of an hour . And now , as I rose to say good-by , to catch my evening train , it struck a quarter to five , and my cousin stood up , with his weight upon his staff , and looked at me with an inexpressible depth of weary misery . `` I have only a few minutes left , '' he said , `` during which I can say any thing . My time is divided into two sad parts : the time when I am capable of very little , and the time when I am capable of nothing ; and the latter part is twice the length of the other . For sixteen hours of every day , far better had I be dead than living , so far as our own little insolence may judge .