seven o'clock
She neither remembered the past nor considered the future , and very soon she slipped off into a deep sleep -- the sleep of exhaustion which so often follows a great mental strain . * * * * * It must have been over an hour later that Blanche seemed to awaken to a perception that the big oak door behind her , which gave access to the deep-eaved porch , had opened and closed . She looked round ; and , in the candle-light , for the fire had died down , she saw Varick , looking neither to the right nor to the left , walk quickly across the long room and slip noiselessly through the door leading to the interior of the house . Then it was seven o'clock ? Nearly three-quarters of an hour before she must go up and dress for dinner . Almost at once she was asleep again , to be , however , thoroughly awakened a few moments later by the opening and the shutting of a door . It was the old butler , a man Blanche had come to like and to respect .