seven o'clock
Let me throb with your heart and live in your constant memory . I will write you every day , and you will make all my work easy and all my hours happy if you send me a few kind words to the Charing Cross Hotel . I do not think I shall be more than three or four days absent , but however short or long the time may be , I am beyond all words , Your devoted husband , JOHN HATTON . This letter written , John hurried to the railway station , but in spite of express trains , it was dark when he reached London , and long after seven o'clock when he reached his brother 's house . He noticed at once that the parlors were unlit and that the whole building had a dark , unprosperous , unhappy appearance . A servant woman admitted him , and almost simultaneously Lucy came running downstairs to meet him , for during the years that had passed since her marriage to Harry Hatton , Lucy had become a real sister to John and he had for her a most sincere affection . They went into a parlor in which there had been a fire and stood talking for a few moments .