four o'clock in the afternoon
`` I see . '' Justin asked no more questions , but settled himself back in a cushioned corner , and as the two men rode on in silence , their thoughts were centered on the single vision of a shadowy room , and of a slender golden-haired , black-robed figure against a background of glowing flame . All that night and the next day the doctor battled with Death , and came out triumphant . By four o'clock in the afternoon the old man with pneumonia showed signs of holding his own . Worn out , Anthony drove back toward the sanatorium . The rain was over , but a heavy fog had rolled in , so that the doctor 's little car seemed to float in a sea of cloud . Now and then another car passed him , specter-like amid the grayness .