nearly six o'clock
A little after twelve o'clock , a boy arrived from the other side of the river , carrying Norman 's dinner in a basket . The messenger was from the Alberta Hotel and he also carried a note from Paul announcing that no answer had yet been received to Colonel Howell 's telegram . As the afternoon wore slowly away , Norman became more and more apprehensive . It was nearly six o'clock when Paul came in sight , breathless and exhausted from his rapid climb up the hill . Norman could not resist a sigh of relief when he saw that the delay was not due to any new indiscretion of the young Austrian . `` I do n't blame you , '' panted Paul , `` and I bet you 've been sweating blood . I do n't deserve anything else , but you 're going to save a lot of time if you 'll just forget what I used to be .