six o'clock
Temper your springs with your best steel . Bless Aubert and the pretty Gerande . But remember , your watches will never go , and Gerande will not wed Aubert ! '' Thereupon the little old man disappeared , but not so quickly that Master Zacharius could not hear six o'clock strike in his breast . Meanwhile Master Zacharius became more feeble in mind and body every day . An unusual excitement , indeed , impelled him to continue his work more eagerly than ever , nor could his daughter entice him from it . His pride was still more aroused after the crisis to which his strange visitor had hurried him so treacherously , and he resolved to overcome , by the force of genius , the malign influence which weighed upon his work and himself .