nearly eight o'clock
A bright sunrise gleaming on a sky which in the night had shed cool showers tempted him to rise much before his usual time . He turned over a volume or two from the shelves in the bedroom , seeking thus to keep his nerves steady and to tune his mind . Presently he thought he would take a stroll before breakfast . It was nearly eight o'clock ; servants would be about and the door open . He left his room . Passing a great window at the end of the corridor , he glanced out upon the garden lying behind the house . Some one was walking there -- it was no other than May herself .