three o'clock
He collected some food from the Mearns Street box , and indulged himself with a glass of liqueur brandy . He was beginning to feel miserably cold , so he carried up some broken wood and made a fire on the immense hearth in the upper chamber . Anxiety was clouding his mind again , for it was now two o'clock , and there was no sign of the reinforcements which Dickson and the Princess had gone to find . The minutes passed , and soon it was three o'clock , and from the window he saw only the top of the gaunt shuttered House , now and then hidden by squalls of sleet , and Dobson squatted like an Eskimo , and trees dancing like a witch-wood in the gale . All the vigour of the morning seemed to have gone out of his blood ; he felt lonely and apprehensive and puzzled . He wished he had Dickson beside him , for that little man 's cheerful voice and complacent triviality would be a comfort ... . Also , he was abominably cold .