four o'clock
The Colonel that morning had read over some two dozen letters from Texas and the Southwest , telling of the impossibility of meeting certain obligations in the present state of the country . The Colonel had gone home to dinner with his brow furrowed . On the other hand , Mr. Hopper 's equanimity was spoken of at the widow 's table . At four o'clock , Mr. Hopper took an Olive Street car , tucking himself into the far corner where he would not be disturbed by any ladies who might enter . In the course of an hour or so , he alighted at the western gate of the camp on the Olive Street road . Refreshing himself with a little tobacco , he let himself be carried leisurely by the crowd between the rows of tents . A philosophy of his own -LRB- which many men before and since have adopted -RRB- permitted him to stare with a superior good nature at the open love-making around him .