four o'clock in the morning
The General surprised him , developing a tact and self-command , a knowledge of finesse that he would not have believed possible in a rough and uneducated mountaineer . But the same quality , the wonderful perception , or rather intuition , that had made Wood a military genius , was serving him here , and though he perceived at once the drift of the Secretary 's remarks and their intention , he preserved his coolness and contented himself for awhile with apparent ignorance . This , however , did not check the attack , and by and by Wood , too , began to deal in veiled allusions and to talk of a great general and devoted lieutenants hampered by men who sat in their chairs in a comfortable building before glowing fires and gossiped of faults committed by others amid the reek of desperate fields . It was four o'clock in the morning when Prescott stood again in the street in the darkness and saw the Secretary taking Helen home in his carriage . `` It is now the gossip in Richmond , '' said Mrs. Prescott to her son as they sat together before the fire a day or two later , `` that General Wood makes an unusually long stay here for a man who loves the saddle and war as he does . '' `` Who says so , mother ? '' `` Well , many people . ''