five minutes to eight
Although the sense of my own happiness disposed me to take the brightest view of my son 's chances , I must nevertheless acknowledge that some nervous anxieties still fluttered about my heart while the slow minutes of suspense were counting themselves out in the breakfast-room . I had as little attention to spare for Owen 's quiet prognostications of success as for Morgan 's pitiless sarcasms on love , courtship , and matrimony . A quarter of an hour elapsed -- then twenty minutes . The hand moved on , and the clock pointed to five minutes to eight , before I heard the study door open , and before the sound of rapidly-advancing footsteps warned me that George was coming into the room . His beaming face told the good news before a word could be spoken on either side . The excess of his happiness literally and truly deprived him of speech . He stood eagerly looking at us all three , with outstretched hands and glistening eyes .