nearly four o'clock
If you knew how for the last thirty years this has preyed upon my mind , you would comprehend my anxiety on this account ; but God 's will be done . Do not let me detain you longer , Alexander ; I should prefer being alone . '' Alexander , at this intimation , took the proffered hand of his grand-uncle in a reverential and feeling manner , and , without saying any more , quitted the room . The conversation which he had had with his grand-uncle made a very forcible impression upon Alexander Wilmot ; it occasioned him to pass a very sleepless night , and he remained till nearly four o'clock turning it over in his mind . The loss of the _ Grosvenor _ Indiaman had occurred long before he was born ; he was acquainted with the outline of what had taken place , and had been told , when a child , that a relation of his family had perished ; but although the narrative had , at the time , made some impression upon his young mind , he had seldom , if ever , heard it spoken of since , and may have been said to have almost forgotten it . He was therefore not a little surprised when he found how great an influence it had upon his grand-uncle , who had never mentioned it to him before ; indeed it had escaped Alexander 's memory that it was his grand-uncle 's only surviving daughter who had been lost in the vessel . Alexander Wilmot was warmly attached to the old gentleman ; indeed he would have been very ungrateful if he had not been , for it was impossible that any one could have been treated with more kindness and liberality than he was by Sir Charles .