seven o'clock
Sing Sing , the cook , had been gone for the last half hour , leaving the leg of mutton at the fire . It soon became clear to them that he had altogether absconded . `` Them rats always does leave a falling house , '' said Mrs. Growler . At seven o'clock the sun was down , though the gloom of the tropical evening had not yet come . The two ladies went out to the gate , which was but a few yards from the veranda , and there stood listening for the sound of Harry 's horse . The low moaning of the wind through the trees could be heard , but it was so gentle , continuous , and unaltered that it seemed to be no more than a vehicle for other sounds , and was as death-like as silence itself . The gate of the horse paddock through which Heathcote must pass on his way home was nearly a mile distant ; but the road there was hard , and they knew that they could hear from there the fall of his horse 's feet .