Five
o'clock
I ca n't do it yet -- '' The governor went back to the executive chamber , and heard , one by one , the stories of the callers who had massed the antechamber during his prolonged absence . From all sections , of all degrees , of all political types , their importunities were variants of a single theme -- the thing he could give . Him they gave nothing , not even encouragement . Five o'clock came at last , and he left the plain little work-cell behind the sumptuous panelling of the executive chamber for a ten-minute bout with the press correspondents . Was it true that he had decided to sign the canal bill ? Was a veto imminent ? Did he propose to let it become a law without his signature ?