eight o'clock
The girl bit her lip until the blood started , and , to conceal her chagrin , took refuge in the parlor , where the quiet dimness offered a covert . Locking the door , she sat down in one of the cushioned rocking-chairs and looked at the letter lying between her fingers . The gilt clock on the mantel uttered a dull , clicking sound , and a little green and gold-colored bird hopped out and `` cuckooed '' ten times . Miss Jane would not probably return before seven , possibly eight o'clock , and what could be done to strangle those intervening nine hours ? The blood , heated by exercise and impatience , throbbed fiercely in her temples and thumped heavily at her heart , producing a half-suffocating sensation ; and , in her feverish anxiety , the doom of Damiens appeared tolerable in comparison with the torturing suspense of nine hours on the rack . The envelope was an ordinary white one , merely sealed with a solution of gum arabic , and dexterous fingers could easily open and reclose it without fear of detection , especially by eyes so dim and uncertain as those for which it had been addressed . A damp cloth laid upon the letter would in five minutes prove an _ open sesame _ to its coveted contents , and a legion of fiends patted the girl 's tingling fingers and urged her to this prompt and feasible relief from her goading impatience .