five o'clock
As for the boy himself , not a woman in the alley but was ready to take him in and share whatever the family larder provided . But to all suggestions Dan doggedly shook his head . He was `` thinkin ' it out , '' he said , and all he wanted was to be let alone . `` Well , you ca n't set there all night , '' said Mrs. Snawdor , `` if yer maw do n't turn up by five o'clock , us neighbors is goin ' to take a hand . '' All afternoon Dan sat watching the corner round which his mother might still appear . Not a figure had turned into the alley , that he had not seen it , not a clanging car had stopped in the street beyond , that his quick ear had not noted . About the time the small hand of the cathedral clock got around to four , Nance Molloy came skipping home from school .