four
o'clock
Aunt Jemima was already at her duties . She had tiptoed past his sleeping body an hour before , and after listening to St. George 's breathing had plunged into her tubs ; the cat 's cradle in the dingy court-yard being already gay with various colored fragments , including Harry 's red flannel shirts which Todd had found in a paper parcel , and which the old woman had pounced upon at sight . She insisted on making him a cup of coffee , but he had no time for such luxuries . He would keep on , he said , to Kennedy Square , find Pawson , ascertain if St. George 's old rooms were still unoccupied ; notify him of Mr. Temple 's return ; have his bed made and fires properly lighted ; stop at the livery stable , wake up Todd , if that darky had overslept himself -- quite natural when he had been up almost all night -- engage a carriage to be at Jemima 's at four o'clock , and then return to get everything ready for the picking-up-and-carrying-downstairs process . And all this he did do ; and all this he told Jemima he had done when he swung into the court-yard an hour later , a spring to his heels and a cheery note in his voice that had not been his for years . The reaction that hope brings to youth had set in . He was alive and at home ; his Uncle George was where he could get his hands on him -- in a minute -- by the mounting of the stairs ; and Alec and his mother within reach !