four o'clock
`` Never mind , Paul , '' said the sexton encouragingly . `` When you do succeed , perhaps you 'll get something worth waiting for . '' One morning Paul went out feeling that something was going to happen , -- he did n't exactly know what , -- but he felt somehow that there was to be a change in his luck . He went out , therefore , with more hopefulness than usual ; yet , when four o'clock came , and nothing had occurred except failure and disappointment , which unhappily were not at all out of the ordinary course , Paul began to think that he was very foolish to have expected anything . He was walking listlessly along a narrow street , when , on a sudden , he heard an exclamation of terror , of which , on turning round , he easily discovered the cause . Two spirited horses , attached to an elegant carriage , had been terrified in some way , and were now running at the top of their speed . There was no coachman on the box ; he had dismounted in order to ring at some door , when the horses started .