eight o'clock
He turned from her not merely because the last word had been spoken , but through fear lest something might be breaking within himself . On regaining the white roadway he thought he saw Jasper Fay in the shadow of the house , but he was too deeply stricken to speak to him . He went up the hill and farther from the village . It was not yet eight o'clock , but time had ceased to have measurement . He went up the hill to be alone in that solitude which was all that for the moment he could endure . He climbed higher than the houses and the snow-covered gardens ; his back was toward the moon and the glow above the city . The prospect of reaching the summit gave something for his strong body to strain forward to .