four
o'clock
I say , but it gets me ; it 's the strangest thing I ever heard . '' And he waited till the soldierly form disappeared below the landing . Then he went back to his chair on the balcony to think it over . At four o'clock that afternoon he had grumbled of dullness . He lit a pipe , and contemplated the soft and delicate blues of earth and heaven , the silvery flashes on the lake , and the slim violet threads of smoke which wavered about his head . It was late . Now and then the sound of a galloping horse was borne up by the breeze , and presently Maurice heard the midnight bell boom forth from the sleepy spires of the cathedral -- where the princess was to be married .