eight o'clock
Bucks ' message he had enclosed . `` But I shall work very hard every hour I am gone to get back the sooner , '' he promised , `` and if you hear of the snow flying over the peaks on the West End you will know that I am behind it and headed straight for you . '' When Marie and Mrs. Whitney came up , Gertrude sat calmly before the grate fire , but the note lay hidden over her heart , for in it he had whispered that while he was away every night at eight o'clock and every morning , no matter where she should be , or what doing , he should kiss her lips and her eyes as he had kissed them that first morning in the dark , warm office . When eight o'clock came her aunt and her sister sat with her ; but Gertrude at eight o'clock , musing , was with her lover and her lips and eyes again were his to do with what he would . Later Doctor Lanning came in and she roused to hear the news about the snow . Between Sleepy Cat and Bear Dance two passenger trains were stalled , and on Blackbird hill the snow was reported four feet deep on the level . When the doctor had gone and Marie had retired , Gertrude 's aunt talked to her seriously about her father , whose almost frantic condition over what he called Gertrude 's infatuation was alarming .