Six
o'clock
`` What 's the reason , Robert ? '' repeated Helen with her eyes full of interest and concern . Just then , the far-away bell of the `` Santee '' was struck four times . `` Six o'clock , '' exclaimed Robert ; `` we 've a whole hour before supper ; let 's walk along the sea-wall to College Creek and back ; we 'll just have time to do it . '' Poor Robert then relapsed into silence ; he was happy to be with his friend again and eager to tell her that he could not explain his peculiar conduct ; but he could not talk . His mind was in confusion , yet seemed a blank ; and the trivial things about him took a prominence that in milder moods would have remained unnoticed . He noted with the eye of a naturalist a squirrel that scampered across their path , and ran along the fence , disappearing up a maple tree ; two robins were scolding and fussing in the tree top near their nest .