two o'clock
Winged rumor flew through the length and breadth of the town , and before sunset a human stream poured along the road leading to `` Elm Bluff '' , overflowed the green lawn under the ancient poplars , surged across the terrace , and beat against the railing of the piazza . Men , women , children , lawyers , doctors , newspaper reporters , all pressing forward for a glimpse of the mysterious and weird witness , that , in the fulness of time , had arisen to reprove the world for a grievous and cruel wrong . The hinges had been removed ; the door was set up at a certain angle , carefully balanced against the hanging curtain ; and there the curious crowd beheld , in a veritable vision of the dead , torn as it were from the darkness and silence of the grave , the secret of that stormy night , when unseen powers had solemnly covenanted in defence of trusting innocence . On Saturday the regulations of prison discipline reduced the working hours much below the daily quota , and at two o'clock the ringing of the tower bell announced that the busy convicts of the various industrial rooms were allowed leisure during the remainder of the afternoon , to give place to the squad of sweepers and scrubbers , who flooded the floors and scoured the benches . June heat had followed fast upon the balmy breath of May , and though the air at dawn was still iced with crystal dew , the sun that shone through the open windows of the little chapel , burned fiercely on the unpainted pine seats , the undraped reading-desk of the pulpit , the tarnished gilt pipes of the cabinet organ within the chancel railing . On one of the front benches sat Iva Le Bougeois , with a pair of crutches resting beside her on the arm of the seat , and her hands folded in her lap . Recovering slowly from the paralysis resulting from diphtheria , she had followed Beryl into the chapel , and listened to the hymns the latter had played and sung .