Seven o'clock
It was such people , he reflected , who still clung to the old soil whence the sturdier representatives of the stock had long since departed , destined to give way at last to the swarming Polack , the French Canadian , and the Italian . The thought was melancholy , and coloured to no little extent the remainder of his ride . This incident , which was only one of several , was afterward revived to win a permanent place in his memory when he came to know the girl as Lena Harpster ; for her part in the drama of the immediate future was destined to be connected strangely with his own . Seven o'clock found him again upon the tower , setting the telescope in order and preparing for his guests . He could scarcely expect them for an hour , but he walked restlessly about the enclosure of the parapet , breathing gratefully the cool night air . The lamp within his cabin shone dimly through the small windows upon his promenade . Beyond the battlements to the east , the evening star , which the Roman poet called Noctifer , began to bicker and brighten in the serene sky , and the last vestige of the sun 's afterglow had now faded from the west .