five o'clock
`` A lame and impotent conclusion , '' perhaps , but surely the only end possible under the circumstances . He could not wage war against a feeble creature , whose hold on life was still an uncertainty ; he could not forget his promise to Marian , that no harm should come to her husband through any act of his . So he sat quietly by the bedside of his prostrate foe , watched him silently as he fell into a brief restless slumber , and administered his medicine when he woke with a hand that was as gentle as a woman 's . Between four and five o'clock the nurse came in from the next room to take her place , refreshed by a sleep of several hours ; and then Gilbert departed in the chill gloom of the winter 's morning , still as dark as night , -- departed with his mind lightened of a great load ; for it had been very terrible to him to think that the man who had once been his friend might go down to the grave without an interval of reason . Gilbert did not go to the Temple again till he had finished his day 's work at St. Helen 's , and had eaten his modest dinner at a tavern in Fleet-street . He found that Mr. Mew had already paid his second visit to the sick-room , and had pronounced himself much relieved and delighted by the favourable change . `` I have no fear now , '' he had said to the nurse .