four o'clock
All that I cared for is lost to me , and I might as well surrender , I suppose ; not at discretion , however ! '' She turned from me silently , and sought her couch again ; but I felt instinctively that she slept no more ; and so we lay , silently watching one another , until morning . I dared not renew my efforts to escape , at all events , in the night-time , when I knew the house was locked , and watched without , as well as within -- for this was the old habit of the square . One -- two -- three -- four o'clock came , and passed , and were reported by the deep-tongued clock in the room beneath me , before I slept , and then I dreamed a vision so vivid , that I wakened from it excited -- exhausted -- as though its frightful figments had been stern realities . I thought that the noble dog Ossian came to me again and laid the double-footed key upon my lap , as he had done at Beauseincourt -- staining my white dress with blood , not mud , this time , and that Colonel La Vigne struck it furiously to the floor , and handed me instead the wooden one I had carved , with the words of the proverb : `` The opportunity lost is like the arrow sped : it comes no more . Your wooden key will fail you next time , as it has failed you this , and you will be baffled -- baffled -- as you tried to baffle me ! Miriam , unseen I pursue you ! ''