about six o'clock
-- What o'clock is it ? '' he asked himself . He was always accustomed to tell the time of the day to a minute , without needing a watch , but now he had lost his reckoning . It was about six o'clock when he came back home ; was it nine or ten now ? He durst not strike a light , for fear of being seen from without and spoiling his little game . He waited a little more . The threatening shadows of the past gathered once more around him .