seven o'clock
Beyond him lay the forest of La Bruine , red in the slanting rays of the setting sun . Beyond this the road swung into the Morteyn road , that lay cool and moist along the willows that bordered the river Lisse . The sun glided behind the woods as he reached the bridge that crosses the Lisse , and the evening glow on feathery willow and dusty alder turned stem and leaf to shimmering rose . It was seven o'clock , and he knew that he could keep his word to Lorraine . And now , too , he began to feel the fatigue of the day and the strain of the last two hours . In his excitement he had not noticed that two bullets had passed through his jacket , one close to the pocket , one ripping the gun-pads at the collar . The horse , too , was bleeding from the shoulder where a long raw streak traced the flight of a grazing ball .