one o'clock
He threw back his lordly head , and his brilliant eyes seemed to dilate , as though the suggestion of the suit stirred his pulse , as the breath of carnage and the din of distant battle that of the war-horse , panting for the onward dash . A species of human petrel , -- a juridic _ Procellaria Pelagica _ whose _ habitat _ was the court-house , -- Erle Palma lived amid the ceaseless surges of litigation , watching the signs of rising tempests in human hearts , plunging in defiant exultation where the billows rode highest , never so elated as when borne triumphantly upon the towering crest of some conquering wave of legal _ finesse _ , or impassioned invective , and rarely saddened in the flush of victory by the pale spectres of strangled hope , fortune , or reputation which float in the _ débris _ of the wrecks that almost every day drift mournfully away from the precincts of courts of justice . The striking of the clock caused him to draw out his watch and compare the time . `` I believe the regular train does not leave V -- until night , but the conductor told me I might catch an excursion train bound south , and due here about half-past one o'clock . It is necessary for me to return with as little delay as possible , and after I have spoken to Regina I must hasten to the depot You will find my address pencilled on the card , and I presume Mrs. Orme has given you hers . Should you desire to confer with me at any time relative to the child , I shall promptly respond to your letters , but have no leisure to spend in looking after her . The semiannual remittance shall not be neglected , and Regina has a package for you containing money for contingent expenses . ''