six in the
morning
It was from Linda , and it read : `` Charlie badly hurt . Can you come ? '' Stella reached for the telephone receiver . The night clerk at the C.P.R. depot told her the first train she could take left at six in the morning . That meant reaching the Springs at nine-thirty . Nine and a half hours to sit with idle hands , in suspense . She did not knew what tragic dénouement awaited there , what she could do once she reached there .