five o'clock
You would n't be afraid for any one else as big and strong and healthy as I. '' Gradually , out of the welter of scenes like that , the thing got itself recognized as something that was to happen . But the parting came at last in a little different way from any they had foreseen . Rodney came home from his office early one afternoon , with a telegram that summoned him to New York to a conference of counsel in a big public utility case he had been working on for months . He must leave , if he were going at all , at five o'clock . He ransacked the house , vainly at first , for Rose , and found her at last in the trunk-room -- dusty , disheveled , sobbing quietly over something she held hugged in her arms . But she dried her eyes and came over to him and asked what it was that had brought him home so early . He showed her the telegram .