four o'clock in the afternoon
He had seen this with his own eyes , this sign which his mother had once told him of as having been verified in her experience , in connection with the case of a man who was sick in Biloxi . He was sick , and a dog came running along the street and stopped in front of this place -- a black dog -- and the man died . Eugene saw this with his own eyes , -- that is , the dog and the sick man 's death notice . The dog howled at four o'clock in the afternoon and the next morning the man was dead . He saw the crape on the door . Angela mocked at his superstition , but he was convinced . `` There are more things in heaven and earth , Horatio , than are dreamt of in your philosophy . ''