about four o'clock in the afternoon
Alas ! her fears of the previous night were but too well founded . He had perished in the storm . His friend tried his utmost to persuade him to remain for the night when the storm began , but he was anxious to return to his home , fearing the anxiety of his family : and he left his friend 's house about four o'clock in the afternoon . The weather was intensely cold , as well as stormy , and , owing to the depth of snow which had already fallen , he could make but slow progress , and , when overtaken by darkness and the increasing tempest , benumbed with cold , and blinded by the whirling drifts of snow , he sank down by the roadside to die , and the suspense of his wife was at length relieved by the painful certainty of his fate . About noon on the day succeeding the storm , as Dr. S. was slowly urging his horse onward , in order to visit a patient who resided in the vicinity , he observed some object lying almost concealed in the snow . Stopping his horse , he left his sleigh to examine it , and was horror-struck to find it the body of a man .