three o'clock
In his inner self he perhaps thought of Gaud , to whom , doubtless , Sylvestre had plighted him in his last hours ; and she had become a poor girl now , alone in the world . And above all , perhaps , the mourning for his beloved brother still preyed upon his heart . But this heart of his was a virgin wilderness , difficult to explore and little known , where many things took place unrevealed on the exterior . One morning , going on three o'clock , while all were dreaming quietly under their winding-sheet of fog , they heard something like a clamour of voices -- voices whose tones seemed strange and unfamiliar . Those on deck looked at each other questioningly . `` Who 's that talking ? '' Nobody .