eight o'clock
Long before eight o'clock that day , Arthur Wardlaw had passed from a state of somber misery and remorse to one of joy , exultation and unmixed happiness . He no longer regretted his crime , nor the loss of the _ Proserpine . _ Helen was alive and well , and attributed not her danger , but only her preservation , to the Wardlaws . Wardlaw senior kept his carriage in town , and precisely at eight o'clock they drove up to the door of the hotel . They followed the servant with bounding hearts , and rushed into the room where the general and Helen stood ready to receive them . Old Wardlaw went to the general with both hands out , and so the general met him , and between these two it was almost an embrace . Arthur ran to Helen with cries of joy and admiration , and kissed her hands again and again , and shed such genuine tears of joy over them that she trembled all over and was obliged to sit down .