eight
o'clock
And all this knowledge was in Crane 's possession alone , to use as he wished . The fate of his rival was given into his hands ; and if he turned down his thumb , so , better for Mortimer that he had been torn of wild beasts in a Roman arena than to be cast , good name and all , to the wolves of righteous humanity . As a dog carries home a bone too large for immediate consumption , Crane took back this new finding to his den of solitude in New York . At eight o'clock he turned the key in his door , and arm in arm with his now constant companion walked fitfully up and down , up and down , the floor . Sometimes he sat in a big chair that beckoned to him to rest ; sometimes he raced with swift speed ; once he threw himself upon his bed , and lay staring wide-eyed at the ceiling for hours . What mockery -- hours ! on the mantelpiece the clock told him that he had ceased his strides for a bare five minutes .