eight o'clock
Neither were they among those that peered from between parted curtains in the dim light of the sleeper , many in fright , all in anxiety , when somewhere in the dead of the summer night , long after all occupants of the rearmost cars were wrapped in slumber , the long train bumped to sudden jarring standstill , and up ahead there arose sound of rush , of excitement and alarm . It was just after sunset when , for the second time , the hot boxes of the recruit car had been treated to liberal libations from the water-tank , and the belated train again moved on . Dinner had been ready in the dining-car a full hour , but so long as the sickening smell of burning waste arose from the trucks immediately in front very few of the passengers seemed capable of eating . The car , as a consequence , was crowded towards eight o'clock , and the steward and waiters were busy men . The evening air , drifting in through open windows , was cooler than it had been during the day , but still held enough of the noontide caloric to make fans a comfort , and Mr. Stuyvesant , dining at a `` four-in-hand '' table well to the front , and attempting to hold his own in a somewhat desultory talk with his fellow-men , found himself paying far more attention to the lovely face of the girl across the aisle than to the viands set before him . She was seated facing the front , and opposite the austere maiden previously mentioned . Conversation had already begun , and now Stuyvesant was able to see that , beautiful in feature as was her face in repose , its beauty was far enhanced when animated and smiling .