four o'clock
He moved close to her ; their eyes met again , with increased eagerness , and held fast ; she was trembling , visibly ; and her lips -- parted with her tumultuous breathing -- were not far from his . `` Is n't any man in great danger , '' he said , `` if he falls in love with you ? '' `` Well ? '' Toward four o'clock that afternoon , a very thin , fair young man shakily heaved himself into a hammock under the trees in that broad backyard wherein , as Valentine Corliss had yesterday noticed , the last iron monarch of the herd , with unabated arrogance , had entered domestic service as a clothes-prop . The young man , who was of delicate appearance and unhumanly pale , stretched himself at full length on his back , closed his eyes , moaned feebly , cursed the heat in a stricken whisper . Then , as a locust directly overhead violently shattered the silence , and seemed like to continue the outrage forever , the shaken lounger stopped his ears with his fingers and addressed the insect in old Saxon . A white jacketed mulatto came from the house bearing something on a silver tray .