a quarter past
four
But over in the east , when one glimpsed the skies above the trees , a nebulous gray was stealing upon the darkness ; and the morning star blazed magnificently , in a space that seemed to have been cleared for it . Somewhere , far off , an ambitious rooster crowed to make the sun rise . It took us a long time to reach home . It was all of a quarter past four when we turned into the Parish House gate , cut across the garden , and reached Flint 's rooms . Faint , trembling in every limb , I fell into a chair , and through a mist saw him kneel and blow upon the coals of the expiring fire , upon which he dropped a lightwood knot . A ruddy glow went dancing up the chimney . Then he was beside me again .