two o'clock
He fingered them lovingly , smoothing their velvety petals with a tender hand , while his mind sought in vain to readjust itself to the change the last two hours had brought . He turned again to the fire , which glowed with blue and purple lights behind the windows of isinglass , curling and flaming and twisting , with fascinating brilliance . Long he sat , watching it , while the sounds outside in the street grew less and less , and at last when he went to the window , he found the street in darkness and in silence . The moon had set , and his watch told him it was two o'clock . The wind whimpered in the chimney like a lonesome puppy , rising and falling , cying out and swelling with eerie rhythm ; a soft spring wind , he knew it was , that seemed to catch its breath like a thing in pain . Looking again at the roses , he noticed that the leaves were drooping . He hastily went into the dispensary and brought out two graduates filled with water to put them in ; but when he lifted them -- he saw , with poignant pain -- they were gone past helping -- they were frost-bitten .