two o'clock
The wiseheads of the servants ' hall decided that Sir Michael had received sudden intelligence through Mr. Robert -- they were wise enough to connect the young man with the catastrophe -- either of the death of some near and dear relation -- the elder servants decimated the Audley family in their endeavors to find a likely relation -- or of some alarming fall in the funds , or of the failure of some speculation or bank in which the greater part of the baronet 's money was invested . The general leaning was toward the failure of a bank , and every member of the assembly seemed to take a dismal and raven-like delight in the fancy , though such a supposition involved their own ruin in the general destruction of that liberal household . Robert sat by the dreary hearth , which seemed dreary even now when the blaze of a great wood-fire roared in the wide chimney , and listened to the low wail of the March wind moaning round the house and lifting the shivering ivy from the walls it sheltered . He was tired and worn out , for remember that he had been awakened from his sleep at two o'clock that morning by the hot breath of blazing timber and the sharp crackling of burning woodwork . But for his presence of mind and cool decision , Mr. Luke Marks would have died a dreadful death . He still bore the traces of the night 's peril , for the dark hair had been singed upon one side of his forehead , and his left hand was red and inflamed , from the effect of the scorching atmosphere out of which he had dragged the landlord of the Castle Inn . He was thoroughly exhausted with fatigue and excitement , and he fell into a heavy sleep in his easy-chair before the bright fire , from which he was only awakened by the entrance of Mr. Richards with the return message .