four o'clock
Her image was before his mind 's eye every moment while he was threading his way back to his chambers in Thavies ' Inn . He sat for an hour or two before the remnant of his fire , lost in a revery ; and sleep came not to his eyes till a very late hour in the morning . Just as the tortuous mind of Gammon was loosing hold of its sinister purposes in sleep , Mr. Aubrey might have been seen taking his seat in his little study , having himself spent a restless night . 'T was little more than half-past four o'clock when he entered , candle in hand , the scene of his early and cheerful labors , and sat down before his table , which was covered with loose manuscripts and books . His face was certainly overcast with anxiety , but his soul was calm and resolute . Having lit his fire , he placed his shaded candle upon the table , and leaning back for a moment in his chair , while the flickering increasing light of his crackling fire and of the candle , revealed to him , with a sense of indescribable snugness , his shelves crammed with books , and the window covered with an ample crimson curtain , effectually excluding the chill morning air -- he reflected with a heavy sigh upon the precarious tenure by which he held the little comforts yet thus left to him . Oh , thought he -- if Providence saw fit to relieve me from the frightful pressure of liability under which I am bound to the earth , at what labor , at what privation would I repine !