about nine o'clock
And now , good-bye for the present , dear . I must get home as soon as possible , for there is a storm coming , and I do n't want to get my Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes spoilt . ' When she slipped off like a white ghost into the gathering darkness , Gabriel remained at the door and looked up to the fast clouding sky . It was now about nine o'clock , and the night was hot and thundery , and so airless that it was difficult to breathe . Overhead , masses of black cloud , heavy with storm , hung low down over the town , and the earth , panting and worn out with the heat , waited thirstily for the cool drench of the rain . Evidently a witch-tempest was brewing in the halls of heaven on no small scale , and Gabriel wished that it would break at once to relieve the strain from which nature seemed to suffer . Whether it was the fatigue of his day 's labour , or the late interview with Bell which depressed him , he did not know , but he felt singularly pessimistic and his mind was filled with premonitions of ill .