four
o'clock
`` I will think upon it . Until then -- leave me my peace . '' With a slow , meditative step he went back to the curtained doorway and , pulling aside the hangings , went out on to the balcony . It was four o'clock , and already the heat of the day had broken . Long rays of sunlight struck eastward across the garden and touched with their faded golden fingers the topmost turrets of the temple . In the distance the shadows of the jungle had advanced and , like the waves of a rising tide , seemed to swallow up , step by step , the brightness of the prospect . Nehal Singh descended the winding stair that led to the first terrace .