one o'clock
His eye seemed to indicate that he had lost all sense of the passing of the moments , and I could not discover whether he looked for the entry of one bearing his letter of salvation , or of the jailor with his hammer , to knock the chain from his feet , and lead him forth to the scaffold . He again muttered some words as the turnkey was proceeding forward to where I was . I could not make them out , so faint had his voice now become ; but one of the men said he wished to know the hour . I told him it was one o'clock -- that was just one hour from the appointed termination of his life . The turnkey , meanwhile , whispered in my ear that his father , mother , and sister had arrived . It was the sound of their carriage wheels that we had heard . I enjoined upon the men the necessity of continuing their labours , and went out to prevent the entry of his parents to the witnessing of a scene transcending all their powers of bearing .