four o'clock in the morning
Before he had reached his own door he had quite made up his mind that he himself would tell the story after his own fashion . And he told it , before he went to bed that night . He washed the blood from his face and head , and cut away a part of the clotted hair , and then wrote a letter to old Mr. Wharton at Wharton Hall . And between three and four o'clock in the morning he went out and posted his letter in the nearest pillar , so that it might go down by the day mail and certainly be preceded by no other written tidings . The letter which he sent was as follows : -- DEAR MR. WHARTON , I regret to have to send you an account of a rather serious accident which has happened to Everett . I am now writing at 3 A.M. , having just taken him home , and it occurred at about midnight . You may be quite sure that there is no danger or I should have advertised you by telegram .