four o'clock
`` I ask your pardon , Herr , '' said Hans , humbly . `` It is in no spirit of idle curiosity that I speak ; less still , with any wish to offend you . I will now see what is best to do . You may leave all in my hands , and by four o'clock , or five at furthest , you shall hear from me . '' `` That 's sensible , -- that 's friendly , '' cried Dalton , shaking the other 's hand warmly , and really feeling the most sincere gratitude for the kindness . If there was any act of friendship he particularly prized , it was the intervention that should relieve him of the anxiety and trouble of a difficult negotiation , and leave him , thoughtless and careless , to stroll about , neither thinking of the present nor uneasy for the future . The moment such an office had devolved upon another , Dalton felt relieved of all sense of responsibility before his own conscience ; and although the question at issue were his own welfare or ruin , he ceased to think of it as a personal matter .