nine o'clock
A restless , feverish energy filled his frame . He felt that he could not sleep , that to wait idly would be simple misery , and that only in motion towards the set aim of his fierce , excited desires , could he bear his disappointment and shame . But the rain still came down with a volume which threatened soon to exhaust the cisterns of the air , and in that hope he compelled himself to wait a little . Towards nine o'clock the great deluge seemed to slacken . The wind arose , and there were signs of its shifting , erelong , to the northwest , which would bring clear weather in a few hours . The night was dark , but not pitchy ; a dull phosphoric gleam overspread the under surface of the sky . The woods were full of noises , and every gully at the roadside gave token , by its stony rattle , of the rain-born streams .